chapotraphouse

I found this local news article with details about the fire and the dispute.

Regarding the dispute:

The City of Buffalo and building owner Darryl Carr have been embattled in a heated eminent domain dispute since the Common Council initiated proceedings in September 2022.

Darryl Carr has owned the pair of Cobblestone Buildings for over 16 years, and since his ownership the property has has numerous building code violations and appeared in housing court repeatedly.

Carr has sought demolition permits to tear down the buildings several times, and was even awarded one in early 2023 before the city's eminent domain proceeding hit the court docket.

However, once the city moved forward with the eminent domain in May 2023, nothing could be done to the building until the proceeding played out in the courtroom.

Fillmore District councilmember Mitch Nowakowski led the effort for the eminent domain and lobbied hard to save the buildings.

Carr says he plans to build a 55-story tower consisting of apartments, condo's and retail space at the site.

Both Carr and Councilman Nowkowski were on scene after the fire ignited Tuesday night.

According to Carr, the two had a heated exchange.

"Heated" 😂 what an ass

"He's the cause of this, really, if you think about it," Carr said. "I'm saying it's his fault, because it is, because if he supported me, these buildings would have been down years ago, and this never would have happened."

this dude should do standup, he's hilarious

Councilman Nowakowski said it's too early to know the direct cause of the fire, but did allude to Carr's upkeep of the properties as a major problem.

"This is a shame that we allow landlords to do this in the City of Buffalo, that we allow the delay of courts for over a decade to allow this to happen," Nowkowski said.

During all of the legal proceedings over the years, Carr has maintained that the building was beyond preservation.

"There was no saving anything in there," Carr said. "My demo contractors would tell me the same thing."

The guys you hired to give you a price on destroying it said it was a good idea to destroy it? That's really surprising!

🤦

Councilmember Nowakowski said that a ruling in the eminent domain proceeding was expected this week or next.

But if the building requires an emergency demolition, the eminent domain proceeding could be rendered pointless. It is possible the judge in the matter rules the city should still take over the property, even without a building to save.

Fingers crossed for that even more hilarious outcome!