Deal may be in works for Calumet building
Nearly one year after it went on the market, the historic Calumet building may be sold.
The law firm of Kenney Shelton Liptak Nowak LLP, in partnership with Amherst developer Angelo Natale, has put the three-story, 104-year-old building under contract. Firm founder Patrick Kenney confirmed that an offer was made to the current owners, restaurateur Mark Goldman and Buffalo attorney Arthur Ziller.
“We’re doing our due diligence and looking to see if it makes sense,” Kenney said.
Terms were not disclosed.
The 24,000-square-foot building is at the corner of Chippewa and Franklin streets. It was listed for $775,000 with commercial real estate broker Alan Hastings of Hastings Cohn Real Estate. The law firm, meanwhile, is working with Anthony D’Auria of Waterbourne Real Estate Advisors LLC.
Kenney said his firm will occupy the building’s two upper floors, or roughly 16,000 square feet. Three businesses — Bacchus Wine Bar & Restaurant, La Luna night club and the Third Room, a tavern — will remain as tenants on the first floor.
The law firm would increase its office space by 33 percent with the move.
Kenney Shelton currently leases 12,000 square feet in the Rand Building. It has been a tenant there since the firm started in the fall of 1994. It has 26 lawyers and a total staff, including lawyers, of nearly 50 people.
“We clearly needed more space,” Kenney said. “We rented for 15 years and figured our money would be better spent if we owned instead of renting.”
He and his partners considered a number of locations, all in the downtown core, before settling on the Calumet. The building’s history and location, along with available space, proved attractive.
Goldman and Ziller acquired the Calumet in the late 1980s and renovated the circa-1906 building. The restoration and subsequent creation of Goldman’s Calumet restaurant have been widely credited with helping to spearhead the revival of Chippewa Street into downtown’s main entertainment district.
If completed, the Calumet deal will mark the second time in as many weeks that a Buffalo architectural landmark has gone under contract. Last week, Ciminelli Development Co. confirmed it is negotiating to purchase Bethune Hall near Bennett High School.
Filed under: business by Wolf