Buffalo Officials Looking To Renege On Development Deal

A deal that was made more than two decades ago, that would lead to the redevelopment of one of the nicest spots along the Buffalo Waterfront, is now in hot water thanks to a lawsuit and officials from the local government who are looking to back out of a deal they supposedly made in good faith.

According to reporting from Buffalo Business First, the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency is looking to dismiss a lawsuit that would force them to transfer ownership of Templeton Landing in accordance with an agreement the agency made with Special Restaurants way back in 2003.

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According to the terms of the contract, Special Restaurants built a new restaurant called Templeton Landing on the city-owned property that used to house the old Crawdaddy's Restaurant. In addition to building the new restaurant, and then paying an annual fee to the City plus property taxes, the company would be able to take ownership of the restaurant in September 2025. After nearly a year of trying to get the city to hold up its end of the bargain, the city refused, which led to a lawsuit being filed in New York State Supreme Court.

Now, based on court filings, the city is looking to go back on its word and get the courts to agree with them.

BURA has a strong public-policy and governmental interest in preserving and developing Buffalo’s waterfront for attractive, active public uses. Plaintiff, a real estate development company based in California, does not... A decades-old agreement cannot be used to compel BURA’s current administration to transfer that property to plaintiff, whose present use no longer aligns with the public-facing urban renewal purposes that justified the arrangement in the first place.
-Court Motion Filed By The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency

Like many restaurants and other businesses around the nation, the COVID pandemic put the kibosh on any activities for several years. While the city of Buffalo was able to get hundreds of millions in federal funds to help recover from the pandemic, it seems that isn't good enough for them to honor contracts they supposedly signed in good faith years ago.

There are more hearings scheduled in court in the coming weeks, where hopefully we'll see where things land.