Developer Mark Croce is offering one floor of the Statler to help convince the University at Buffalo to return its Law School downtown.
Croce said, State Senator Marc Panepinto's call four weeks ago, to use the former Dillon Federal Courthouse, makes economic sense for downtown Buffalo. Panepinto says, behind the scenes, there's lots of support.
"Brian Higgins, just a year and a half ago, talked about moving the Law School to the Statler building...What we're really doing here is expanding on Brian's original plan and putting the Dillon building in to the mix with Congressman Higgin's idea for the Statler. And now it's really a merger of sort of my idea and the Congressman's idea. And now Mark's made this generous offer, which you know, I think, should make people open their eyes and say, the time has come," Panepinto said.
In a written statement UB said, the proposal "is inconsistent with the interdisciplinary nature of legal education and research." Panepinto is launching an on-line petition this afternoon.