Buffalo Council Approves $2 Million for Repairs to Hostel

As first discussed last week, the Buffalo Common Council has approved a $2 million grant to help cover the cost of repairs at 667 Main Street, the location of the now shuttered Hostel Buffalo. 

Technically the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency (BURA) requested the Restore New York award from the Empire State Development Corporation with the intent of using the funds to cover most of the costs associated with the estimated $3.2 million in repairs and renovations at the building, located at 667 Main Street and 664 Washington Street. The city council on Tuesday voted to approve the funds. 

Fillmore District Council Member Mitch Nowakowski issued a statement Wednesday saying he supports the application. “This $3.2 million project will stabilize and restore a vital building in the Theater District, transforming it into a productive asset for our community. The $2 million in grant funding, combined with additional support from the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency, represents a critical investment in economic development and urban revitalization.” 

Nowakowski adds that “while this building could once again serve as a hostel, I am eager to see it restored to ensure it is safe and beneficial for our community. I also look forward to further exploring this topic with my colleagues next Tuesday in the Finance Committee, following its adoption yesterday afternoon in Council Chambers.” 

Initial repair work has been going on at the building, empty since April, for about a month now, when BURA entered into a $1.25 million contract for the “stabilization of the roof and required shoring associated with stabilization of the floors below,” the agency said at the time. 

The agency continued to call the project, and building, a “high priority due to the level of concern and time-sensitive nature of the needed repairs. BURA cannot take a chance on this building withstanding another winter.” 

But something Nowakowski said last week, and seemed to reiterate Wednesday, might raise some eyebrows. He suggested to WGRZ that while the city had discussed selling the property previously, he didn’t think that option was on the table any more. 

“I think that the city was looking at all options on the table, and I’m happy to see that the Urban Renewal Agency is aggressively going for the restore funding that’s available through New York State for properties just like this,” he said last week. 

When his office was asked for clarification Wednesday evening as to whether the city is no longer considering selling the building, a spokesperson said only that the building will still be owned by BURA and that by receiving this $2 million in restoration funding, “the next step would be repairing it.” 

Hostel Buffalo’s board has continued to meet with BURA and other city officials and has continued discussions about the possibility of developer Sam Savarino working as a partner with the hostel to purchase and restore the hostel, allowing it to resume residency and reopen for business. 

“We appreciate that the city has been communicative with us. We hope everyone stays true to their word,” and would give the hostel’s board the first opportunity to purchase this building, should the city decide to sell it, says Katherine Pessecow, the hostel board’s president. “Sam has been in constant contact with the city… We’re in conversation. The application has not yet been submitted for the preferred developer action (that would name Savarino as the contractor that would be best suited to take on repairs to the hostel), so for now things are sort of status quo, but talks are happening,” she says. 

What matters most right now is that the hostel’s building is getting the repairs and attention it needs and that action is being taken to make the building safe and stable again, ideally setting the wheels in motion to allow the hostel to reopen in the location where it has existed for decades, Pessecow says. “The building is going to be rehabbed and in a shape that’s able to move in.” She also hopes that, as the current and long-standing owner of the building, the city will make additional investments into the property beyond the repairs required to stabilize the building, both at the Main Street end, where the hostel operated, and at the other end of the building, on Washington Street, where other businesses could be located in the future.