E-Mail
Print
Mayor Byron Brown says the Hamister Group of Amherst wants to develop the Tishman Building at 10 Lafayette Square into a Hilton Garden Inn with 123 rooms. The project will cost $40 million, and involves a lot of "moving pieces," such as the need for an easement, says Brown.
"To provide access for hotel guests, to provide access for deliveries, and the servicing of the building," Brown adds.
The Hamister Group also plans to eventually move its corporate office from Amherst into the structure.
"This will also be the site of a 123-room .. hotel. There will be restaurants and upscale apartments in this building," he says.
The project will create 400 construction jobs, and 49 new permanent jobs, along with 30 jobs that will move to downtown Buffalo with the Hamister Group.
Brown says the Common Council has yet to officially approve the easement, but he doesn't think the approval will be a problem.
MORE HOTEL ROOMS
The Tishman Building in Lafayette Square will soon become the latest hotel project in downtown Buffalo. And the developer did some checking to see if a hotel was the best plan for the property.
The list of hotel projects in Buffalo includes the Sabres' Webster Block development, the Donovan Building, and the recently completed Lafayette.
Company CEO Mark Hamister doesn't think it'll mean too many hotel rooms. Besides its own analysis, Hamister says the firm sought the help of HVS as a consultant.
"They're considered to be the Mercedes-Benz, the Cadillac of independent parties who evaluate the current and long-term needs of hotel space," Hamister said while speaking with reporters on Wednesday.
And Hamister says the other hotel projects gave his firm the confidence to move forward.
"So we are extremely bullish not only for this project but for what the Sabres organization is proposing in the Webster block and what some of the other folks are proposing here in town," he said.