[Rue B]

Here's a slighty more detailed article about the Dulski building renovations.

Bid accepted for Dulski Building, heralding new look, multiple uses
By SHARON LINSTEDT
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
10/3/2006

The Thaddeus J. Dulski Federal Office Building in downtown Buffalo will have a whole new look and new purpose as a private, mixed-use complex by late 2007.
The federal General Services Administration has officially accepted the $6.1 million online bid from UniQuest Delaware LLC, a local partnership, to buy the vacant 15-story structure.

The partnership, composed of Amherst-based Uniland Development Co. and Acquest Development of Buffalo, has big plans for the 35-year-old building at Delaware Avenue and West Huron Street.

"It's such a strong building because of its location, size and condition. It has well-sized, open floor plates that make it ideal for an upgrade to Class A office space and a multitude of other commercial uses," said Uniland Vice President Michael J. Montante.

Preliminary plans call for most of building's nearly 400,000 square feet of leaseable space to be used for offices, with a mix of retail, residential and hotel filling out the remainder.

Acquest President William L. Huntress said continued demand for state-of-the-art office space downtown bodes well for the Dulski Building conversion.

"There's probably 100,000 square feet of Class A tenancies out there to be signed right now," Huntress said. "We haven't identified specific tenants for this project, but I am not concerned about filling the building. It's going to be a beautiful, successful project."

The developer, who described the exterior of the building as "quite ugly," said that will change shortly.

"We plan to remove the entire skin and replace it with something lighter and much more attractive. It won't look like the same building," he said.

UniQuest also will strip out much of the interior, taking care of the structure's long-rumored "asbestos problem" in the process.

"It's not something dangerous or unusual, but it was difficult and expensive to do with tenants in the building. Now that it's vacant, it's a fairly routine situation to clean up," Montante said.

Uniland and Acquest studied the Dulski Building as they co-developed the nearby Niagara Centre at 130 S. Elmwood Ave., where several federal agencies have relocated. Their joint development resume includes the Federal Center at 138 Delaware Ave., which houses the U.S. attorney's office and Citizenship and Immigration Services.

GSA spokeswoman Renee Miscione said the agency is pleased with the price the Buffalo building attracted via the Internet auction, a first for a major Buffalo-area building.

"The auction went as we'd hoped, with the process self-extending through new bids as the deadline approached. We're very pleased with the outcome," Miscione said.

UniQuest, bidding under the code name "ABCDEFGH," beat out what turned out to be another Buffalo-area group, which called itself "ithaca."

"We had no idea who our competition was or where they were from, and it really didn't matter. We were focused on getting the building," Huntress said.

The GSA will hold a "decommissioning" ceremony once the sale closes to mark the building's government service.