A company owned by Canadian real estate developer Harry Stinson pleaded guilty in Housing Court to 29 code violations, Buffalo City Court officials confirmed to BTPM News.
According to Corporation Counsel Rosa Alina Pizzi, the violations were in connection with both the long-vacant, fire-damaged Buffalo Grand Hotel and the former Wonder Bread building.
Under the plea agreement, the company must pay the City of Buffalo $175,000 within 90 days, and a failure to do so results in an increased penalty.
"The City requested the maximum amount of fines for each violation, exploring all avenues for assessing fines that represented how long these properties remained vacant and noncompliant, and the plea reflects these efforts," Pizzi told BTPM News in a statement via email.
The violations must also be corrected.
"This result is reflective of the Law Department’s renewed commitment to vindicating the City’s rights against individuals whose neglect allows important City landmarks to remain [vacant] and fall into disrepair," Pizzi said.
Owner Harry Stinson estimated restoring and reopening the Buffalo Grand Hotel could cost several million dollars. That property remains his top priority because it could begin generating revenue once reopened, while the Wonder Bread site would require a more extensive redevelopment, he told BTPM News
Looking back, Stinson acknowledged that acquiring the factory added another major project at a time when circumstances surrounding the hotel were becoming increasingly complicated.
“I shouldn’t have taken it on in hindsight,” Stinson said. “It would have been more prudent to not have it on the plate.”
He said he never disputed the code violations, some of which resulted from damages caused by a three-alarm fire at the hotel in December 2021, and that resolving the case allows him to refocus on the future of the property.
“It was certainly not something we wished to experience, but it did get resolved, and we’re still focusing on getting the place reopened, which has obviously been challenging," he told BTPM News.
But, he argues, the property’s prolonged closure was not solely caused by the fire and a lengthy insurance dispute. Stinson claimed city officials rejected a plan to reopen the hotel’s guest-room wing shortly after the fire.
"We were ready, cleaned up, guest rooms were ready to go 60 days after the fire, and we were arbitrarily told we couldn't reopen," he said. "Every single thing in the building, including all the fire issues and such, had to be repaired before we'd reopen, rather than doing it in phasing, which is quite legally and structurally and mechanically possible."
Stinson said he has had a more constructive relationship with city officials under Mayor Sean Ryan's administration. He met with city leadership earlier this year after his agreement with investor Perry Davis fell through.
He said the hotel remained without operating revenue while the insurance dispute continued for several years. The eventual settlement paid off the property’s mortgage, he said, but left insufficient money for repairs.
However, Stinson maintains the Buffalo Grand Hotel can still be restored.
"This was a de facto convention center, and is," he said. "It can be reopened once the tide is turned on the financing. It can be reopened within 120 days. It's not a big lift. There's just a lot of dollars involved."
But no completed financing agreement has been announced.
“We are working on it. We do have irons in the fire. I’m counting the days when we can say we finally have a real source," Stinson said.
Stinson said another challenge is finding financing or a partnership that preserves his vision for the property as a full-scale hotel and event facility. He said previous proposals included "unacceptable" terms like shrinking the hotel or converting portions of it into housing.
"We took on this hotel with a certain mission, and we have — I have, in particular — an awful lot of money tied up in its recovery, and getting involved in a partnership where we were asked to just sit passively in the corner and trust them seemed pointless," Stinson said.
