Although Kathryn Fogle submitted a resolution last Thursday for the Common Council to consider rezoning the Bewley Building’s parking lot, the matter will not be reviewed at tonight’s meeting.
The 4th Ward alderman said Tuesday that she was told that resolutions must be submitted the Wednesday prior to a council meeting.
“But things are added late all the time,” she said. Fogle said she confirmed that the resolution could be introduced at the following council meeting.
In order to build a fire code-compliant stairwell without altering the Bewley Building’s historic character, PathStone would need to construct the stairwell on the wall facing their parking lot. To allow the stairwell, PathStone seeks to change the parking lot zoning from light industrial to mixed-use, which would match the Bewley Building’s zoning.
Delays in the Bewley Building’s rezoning, and a lack of communication from the city, have raised concerns from the building’s owner, PathStone Development, and members of the Greater Lockport Development Corporation (GLDC), that the city is stalling.
Last summer PathStone Development and its consultant Edgemere Development proposed renovating the Bewley Building into 100 affordable apartments while preserving the building’s historic character. Although the GLDC had provided a letter of support for the project, Mayor John Lombardi swiftly opposed the project as a detriment to the city’s downtown.
Last August, the Common Council unanimously approved a “PathStone Opposition Resolution,” before the developer presented blueprints or provided any specifics on the renovation, and despite the Bewley Building being privately owned.
After Fogle walked the Bewley Building’s vacant floors and toured a PathStone apartment building in Albion, she became supportive of the proposed renovation.
PathStone, Edgemere, and the GLDC have all presented information to the council on the shortage of housing that makes apartments in the Bewley Building more marketable than its current offices.
Earlier this year, Charlie Oster, vice president of real estate development for Edgemere Development, said the project would be financed with money from the state Housing Finance Agency (HFA) that consists of tax-exempt bonds, low-interest loans, tax credits, an Empire State Development grant, and private funding. Oster said PathStone would seek an investor, “usually it’s JP Morgan, M&T, or KeyBank,” for $44 million. PathStone would provide $3 million; they would add the roughly $16 million from all HFA sources, and use the $575,000 grant for nearly $64 million in funding, Oster said.
Oster said delays prevent PathStone Development from being prepared for its real estate closing with the state Housing Finance Agency already scheduled for December. “It takes at least six months to close a project,” he said.
Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the start of construction for a new mixed-use development located at 333 First St. in Niagara Falls that features apartments. The six-story, $39.5 million new-build development will provide 73 new affordable and market-rate apartments for individuals and families, including 21 supportive units for survivors of domestic violence, and commercial space for job readiness and workforce development training in downtown Niagara Falls. The project is developed by Community Services for Every1 in partnership with Edgemere Development.
“Why can’t that be us?” said Steve Jerz, senior vice president at M&T Bank and chair of the GLDC’s board of directors. Speaking of PathStone’s financing for the Bewley renovation, Jerz said, “These tax credits are awarded and they have to be allocated within a certain time period or else the state will put them back and give them to another community. I know that PathStone has been working very hard with the city to push this through.”
Last week, the Bewley Building’s ground floor windows facing Main Street were boarded up. On Tuesday, three storefronts were boarded. Matt Martin, owner of the Bewley Building, said Friday that the windows had been broken.
“These types of problems did not happen when the building was vibrant, Martin said. “We’re trying to bring that back through this conversion. I’m sure that people aren’t going to like the fact that we need to board up windows.”
Martin said the building’s occupancy is now at 18% to 19%.
PathStone remains involved, Martin said. “They’re still in for now,” he said. “But there is a time element for this as well, to move the project forward.”
“I’m very concerned about it dying,” Jerz said Tuesday. “I was made aware yesterday that it wasn’t on the agenda. The GLDC has been very supportive. There’s a real risk here that if this gets further delayed it will slip away from the City of Lockport. It seems like this is meddling by elected officials to stop a project.”
“Bewley is a very distressed building right now and I don’t think there’s any way to fix that,” Martin said. “There’s only a very limited pool of developers that can tackle a project of this scope. Even if this building would be listed for a couple $100,000, it still comes down to who has the assets for a project of this scope. It’s limited who can purchase this building.”