When I last posted on the at-risk 198,600-square-foot Wonder Bread factory building located at 356 Fourgeron Street, there were a lot of people wondering about its future. At the time, no one was sure if owner/developer would sell it, or if neighboring JM Smucker was going to attempt to buy it for parking.
I just spoke to Bernice Radle, executive director of Preservation Buffalo Niagara (PBN) who recently toured the historic factory. Bernice said that the roof of the building is a sheet of ice and snow melt. Each floor has over an inch of ice and water – enough that someone could ice skate across the surface.
Bernice toured the building with members of Senator Sean Ryan’s office, to see exactly what’s on the table. They examined the building’s wide open floorplate, which is still very solid thanks to all of the concrete mushroom columns. Bernice told me that the owner, developer Harry Stinson, would consider selling, if he could recoup somewhere around his initial purchase amount of $897,000. In the meantime, Bernice and members of Ryan’s office are going to take a look at potential funding options, including the possibility of low interest funding from the State. Bernice has also been on the phone with a number of developers, a few of whom have expressed a real interest in the massive structure…