Developer Douglas Jemal has scrapped plans for a 60-room boutique hotel at the former Walter J. Mahoney State Office Building on Court Street and instead is putting the property up for auction.
Jemal outbid five others for the Mahoney building during an October 2021 auction for the historic downtown landmark. Jemal’s bid of $4.1 million was the highest during the auction which witnessed a see-saw series of bids.
Jemal wanted the five-story building to serve in conjunction with Jemal’s other downtown hospitality-anchored holdings - the Statler and Hyatt Regency Buffalo. Plans never went beyond the initial, pre-development stage.
Built in 1925 and designed by the noted, local Green & Wicks architectural firm, the building served as the home to a number of New York State offices until it closed in 2020.
