by Michael R. Allen
According to an article in The Buffalo News, a lawyer representing the trustee for the vacant Statler Towers in downtown Buffalo is asking the city to assess the building at a negative value:
Attorney Peter Allen Weinmann warned that if the city refuses to dramatically slash the assessed value of the Delaware Avenue building, it could further hinder efforts to develop the empty complex that towers over Niagara Square.
The trustee plans to demolish the building, an act that has already generated controversy. Asking the Buffalo Board of Assessment Review to assign a negative value to the building is an unprecedented act by a property owner in New York, and certainly unusual.