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Common Council, local developer increase push to preserve Great Northern grain elevator

The Great Northern grain elevator on Ganson Street in Buffalo, still showing its damage from a December wind storm.
Emyle Watkins, WBFO
The Great Northern grain elevator on Ganson Street in Buffalo, still showing its damage from a December wind storm.

Those interested in saving the damaged Great Northern grain elevator in Buffalo from demolition are continuing their efforts, both in City Hall and reportedly by a financial offer to stabilize the damaged structure.

The Common Council this week passed a resolution urging Archer Daniels Midland, the owner of the building, to halt its plan to demolish the grain elevator and instead enter talks with other stakeholders to find a way to save it.

“I think we have an opportunity for representatives from ADM, the academic community, the preservation community and representatives from the City of Buffalo to come together and have a conversation and do what's best for this building as well as the City of Buffalo,” said Councilmember Christopher Scanlon during Tuesday’s Common Council meeting. “We have an opportunity to bring this building, which is a true testament to Buffalo’s past, into the 21st Century and breathe new life into it. I would hate to see us squander that opportunity.”

Among those interested in saving the building is local developer Douglas Jemal, who told the Buffalo News he is offering ADM $100,000 to stabilize the structure, which suffered severe damage to its outer wall during a December wind storm.

He has also, according to the News, offered to pay for an independent engineer to inspect and assess the grain elevator, suggesting it’s a mistake to depend solely on a report commissioned by ADM, considering the company’s interest and past attempts to tear down the elevator.

The city granted an emergency demolition last month, but that’s being held up as preservationists continue to challenge it in court. Supporters of saving the building say it’s the last standing box-styled grain elevator in North America, and was the first to use electric elevation.

Councilmember Joseph Golombek resists calls to tear it down by those who consider it an eyesore. He says as a piece of the city’s history, it’s worth saving. And it’s something that should be included among the attractions which draw visitors to the city.

“Unlike the old ideas of Bass Pro, the silver bullet approach, I think that it is so much more important to have the silver shotgun pellet approach - 100 different smaller things throughout the entire City of Buffalo that brings a wide diverse range of people, tourists, educators, whatever, to come into our city and see the jewel that is the Queen City,” he said.

Michael Mroziak is an experienced, award-winning reporter whose career includes work in broadcast and print media. When he joined the WBFO news staff in April 2015, it was a return to both the radio station and to Horizons Plaza.