Bashar Issa’s ideas for the Statler are coming into focus. Current plans call for more office space and fewer residential units as initially planned. Also, hotel rooms in the landmark Niagara Square building could be online as soon as next spring. Details on the developer’s plans were unveiled in stories in the Buffalo News and Business Journal last week.
The Buffalo News provides details on the hotel plans:
British developer Bashar Issa has decided to keep four floors of original, mothballed hotel rooms intact and outfit them in an art deco theme. Earlier plans called for the existing rooms to be gutted to make way for contemporary rooms and a reconfigured layout.
The original hotel rooms, on floors nine through 12 of the 74-year-old building, have sat untouched since the former Statler Hilton was converted to an office tower in the 1970s. Work already is under way to refurbish the 210 idle rooms, and Issa’s BSC Group is holding talks with a potential hotel operator with the goal of opening the hotel in the next 12 months.
Plans for a parking ramp addition along Franklin Street have been eliminated according to Business First:
Issa also is dropping plans to build a multi-level parking garage on the eastern side of the building. The garage will likely be constructed across Mohawk Street.
He said he has tenantive plans for additional office, residential and retail space where the garage was planned. From an engineering standpoint, that section could easily house a 16-story structure with at least 300,000 square feet.
“It would be like the ‘fourth finger’ of the Statler,” Issa said.
Also coming to the Statler is a new health club that will include the hotel’s swimming pool, last used more than 50 years ago.
Cosmetic work on the building is expected to begin shortly. Issa is planning to install new marble flooring in the lobby and lower level, new windows on the first three floors, and the shabby awning along Delaware Avenue and Niagara Square will be removed. In addition, the building’s terra cotta and red brick will be repaired and cleaned, and new exterior lighting is planned.