City Of Buffalo Going To Court To Take Over Buffalo Grand Hotel

The largest hotel in the Buffalo area has had a hard time over the last few years, and things for the property's owner may be getting a little more difficult after a surprise announcement was made today in downtown Buffalo.

In a press conference on Thursday, June 19, 2025, Acting Buffalo Mayor Chris Scanlon announced that the City of Buffalo would be starting legal action to take possession of the Buffalo Grand Hotel, which sits just steps from the Buffalo waterfront.

The hotel, which initially opened in 1978 as the Buffalo Hilton, has had a rough few years lately.

City Of Buffalo Going To Court To Take Over Buffalo Grand Hotel

For many years, the hotel was known as the Adams Mark, but after the Adams Mark brand ran into some significant legal trouble, the hotel went up for sale and was purchased by developer Harry Stinson. After he made several upgrades and adjustments to the property, it was reopened as the Buffalo Grand Hotel in 2018.

Like most businesses in downtown Buffalo, the Buffalo Grand Hotel had struggled since the COVID-19 Pandemic forced the closure of businesses all over the country. However, as the world opened up, the luck of the Buffalo Grand Hotel did not improve.

In 2022, the hotel was the victim of a devastating fire that caused serious damage to the property. Initial estimates the Buffalo Fire Department gave were that the damage was only around $3 million; however, after a more exhaustive review of the damage from the fire and the water that was used to battle the blaze in the middle of the winter, the total cost of damages exploded to more than $50 million.

In the three years since, Stinson has been fighting with the insurance company to get payment in order to begin repairs to the property.

In September 2024, the property owner announced he had plans to attempt to reopen the hotel in mid-2025, but that wasn't good enough, as Buffalo Housing Court threatened to foreclose on this property and demolish another property that Stinson owns. Now it seems that city officials are taking additional action and want to seize the property and sell it to another developer.

In the press conference that Buffalo's acting Mayor Scanlon held, he announced that the city would be using a new provision of New York's real estate law to take title to the property. They would then issue an RFP for a new developer to come in and reopen the hotel.

Considering that Buffalo already owns more than 7,000 abandoned lots and vacant properties, it seems like a large lift for the city to take on, but we'll have to see what happens.

Now that the city has issued a certificate of abandonment, the property owners have 30 days to respond.