Developer Frank Chinnici’s effort to save a cluster of six downtown Buffalo properties on Oak, Genesee and Ellicott streets has suffered yet another loss, as the harsh winter and years of neglect took their toll on one of the historic structures.
Chinnici’s Legacy Development sought approval from the Buffalo Preservation Board to tear down most of a three-story brick apartment building at 334 N. Oak. That is the last of three structures that had existed at the property, located north of the Genesee Street intersection.
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The 150-year-old townhouse building’s rear wall, roof and parapet wall had all deteriorated significantly in recent years, with water damage, mold, weakened floors and structural pieces and crumbling brick. But the December blizzard, high winds and a recent earthquake combined to destabilize the building even further by damaging the roof, ripping apart the parapet wall and causing more collapse in the rear.
“The building is no longer safe to enter to stabilize what is remaining of the rear wall,” Legacy said.
“This building is in very poor condition,” said Chelsea Galley, a designer with Legacy. “The blizzard and the earthquake have severely compromised what was left.”
But it won’t all go away. Legacy will retain the front and five feet of the interior side wall, which will be braced in preparation for Legacy to incorporate it into a planned development at the site.
That intention made the…
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