Despite exterior, progress happening at Grand Island plaza

Garcia in talks with owner

By Karen Carr Keefe

Senior Contributing Writer

When a Dollar General delivery truck struck and broke off a piece of the wooden canopy above the vacant cleaner’s store at the Grand Island Plaza in January, it stayed in disrepair for weeks.

“It was dangerous and unattractive,” Grand Island Council member Jose Garcia said.

“Enough,” is essentially what others said, impatient for improvements at the plaza, which has lost tenants and customers in recent years.

“That damage there spurred the community to start to get involved again and say, ‘Why does this plaza always have some problem?’ ” Garcia said.

Petition drive underway

A petition on Change.org, with the headline: “Grand Island Plaza is an eyesore,” has drawn 221 signatures as of midweek.

The online petition charged that the plaza “has been a perennial eyesore on Grand Island Blvd. and is increasingly dilapidated.”

Concerned citizen’s complaints

Grand Island businessman and former Bisons general manager Mike Billoni expressed to town officials his concerns about the damage to the plaza and the lack of action by plaza owner Don Singh of Arizona. Billoni said he experienced the problem first-hand.

“Shortly after the truck backed into the façade adjacent to M&T bank in January – and during a windy afternoon – I was heading into the bank when a sheet of plywood came flying down to the ground. Someone moved it against the Dollar General with nails sticking out. Shingles from the roof are also flying off,” he said.

“I commend fellow Rotarian Brian Monkman for starting the online petition and I am happy to see so many signatures. I know we can’t force a private owner to do anything, but we are asking town officials to write up every little violation that forces the owner to answer them, fix the problem, pay the fine or show up in court,” Billoni said.

“That, plus he (Singh) already has heard about the disgruntled residents. It may push him to finally sell the plaza. That’s what I’m praying for. The Town of Grand Island and the plaza’s neighbor, the U.S. Army Pfc. Charles N. DeGlopper Memorial, deserve much better.”

A peek inside the old Ames store. (Photo by Karen Carr Keefe)

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New maintenance management team hired

Garcia listened to constituent complaints and got on the phone to plaza owner Don Singh. The two are in ongoing talks about changes that could turn the plaza around, Garcia said.

Singh has directed Advance Maintenance Services to get the plaza ready for prospective tenants. The former Ames Store is first on the list for repair and renovation.

“Immediately, our Building Department did get involved,” and addressed the issue, Garcia said. “There’s time limits for things to get done, and obviously, we, as residents, are kind of sick of the plaza.”

Plaza on notice to fix damage

Garcia said Singh’s property is currently not in violation of the notice given him to repair the damaged façade/roof.

“Other than that, there’s no known violations,” he said. “They get 30 days to dispute it. Obviously, how do you dispute the fact that the front of your building is smashed? Our Code Enforcement will give them a date that they need it repaired by, and then the owner will contact and explain the reasons why they can or cannot do it. And then that’s a negotiation between Code Enforcement and, based on their discretion, whether they allow them a little more time – or if we want to move towards court action. And that’s a last resort, because we don’t want to encumber them or our town prosecutor and the court system over something that should just be fixed.

“I don’t see any indication that’s it’s not going to get fixed. It’s just not going to get fixed as fast as we, as residents, want it.

“But if he’s on notice to get it fixed – and he is actively engaged with our Building Department with plans to get it fixed – he has covered it with a tarp since Friday (March 7), which is substandard, but that will be part of our conversation. According to him, he’s waiting for an insurance settlement” from Dollar General, whose roof was damaged “and that’s why he hasn’t fixed it yet.”

No sale currently in the works

As to talk of whether or not there has been a sale of the plaza, Garcia said, “I haven’t confirmed anything. I asked Mr. Singh, and he made no mention of a sale. He gave me a price that he would be interested in selling it for, but he made no indication” of a sale pending.

Garcia said he remembers “the glory days of Ames,” when it was the anchor store at the plaza, and he even worked there.

“I remember shopping at Neisner’s when I was a kid,” he added.

“The plaza is a big part of our history and our town, and it’s right in our center. So, I decided to engage with Mr. Singh, who is the property owner, last week. I’d heard a lot of negative noise and a lot of disappointment from other people who had tried to connect with him and make some progress,” Garcia said.

Singh receptive to plaza upgrades

“I was happy that he was very receptive. We had a long conversation,” Garcia said. “I understand that a lot of our beautification standards that are what we want our town to look like now, were not in place when he purchased the plaza. So, he does have his grandfathered rules on a lot of things. It includes enclosures to the dumpster and things of that nature.

“That being said, as a partner in our community, I asked him if he would consider voluntarily making these upgrades and bringing the plaza up to the standards that we would look for today, if it was being built. And he said he would be happy to listen to my suggestions and talk with his new management team.” Advanced Maintenance Services (AMS) of Grand Island is co-owned by Nick Thompson and Kerry Lanthier.

Former Ames building being remodeled

“I had asked, at that point, can I tour the old Ames space, just to get an idea of what condition it’s in, and maybe I can find a tenant – or I can find somebody who can find a potential tenant, and we can have some kind of cooperative relationship,” Garcia said.

“Amazing, it’s not as bad as I had expected,” he said. “It was fairly reasonable-looking space that could be built to suit,” for anyone who’s willing to rent it. He said he had been told they are breaking off a 5,000-square-foot portion in the back for a proposed separate business. “That’s what spurred them to begin remodeling that.”

Garcia’s suggestions

Garcia said he’s crafting an email to Singh proposing some requests, including enclosing the dumpsters on the property and trying to keep the loose garbage from flying around.

“That’s in the back of the property, which is our view from our post office” and Sidway Elementary School, Garcia said.

He noted some of the vacant storefronts have plywood in the windows. He said the goal is to keep the area up, get rid of all the weeds that are growing in the driveway, fill the pot holes and hopefully update some of the signage, especially for some of the businesses that have left.

Garcia said he would also like to see new light poles and some decorative green space to better delineate the parking.

Grand Island Council member Jose Garcia.

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Property history

Singh, who bought the property in 2005, did not respond to NFP’s phone calls this week.

The plaza, at 2411 Grand Island Blvd., is listed with Erie County property records as being owned by Strategic Expansion Ventures LLC of Phoenix. It was built in 1974 and is listed as having a lot size of 11 acres and property square-footage of 82,702. The selling price on July 28, 2005, was listed as $4.29 million. Garcia said Singh recently cited a different asking price ($7.9 million) for any prospective buyer who might come along.

Maintenance management trying to help

Thompson, of AMS, who is working to renovate the former Ames space, said, “We’ve connected up with the owner of the facility here and are trying to help improve the space. It’s been an eyesore for 30 years now, and we see there’s a lot of value here. It’s probably one of the most driven-by plazas on Grand Island. It’s a very highly valuable commercial space with too many empty units, too much garbage, too much damage to the building. So, we’re here just trying to help it move forward.

“We’re sort of that middleman between the tenants and the town and the owner. We’re just trying to help. We are proud Grand Islanders – either past or present – and want to help facilitate some positive change. We want to see long-term change, especially for the Ames building that’s been empty since Ames closed.

“We’re trying to talk to our friends, investors and council people from Grand Island, and all the inspectors. We’ve walked through all these facilities. We’re probably in daily contact with the owner of the facility at this point, trying to figure out, ‘How do we make this space better?’ ”

Fielding complaints, suggestions

Thompson said, “Yes, we’ve had complaints that we have heard, so then we pass those along to the owner, so basically explain to him, ‘If you want this to be a successful plaza’ – and it should be the most successful plaza on Grand Island – ‘then you need to start addressing some of these things,’ ” Thompson said. “There’s empty spaces that get broken into; there’s broken windows; there’s damage to roof lines. There are issues here that need to be fixed, as well as just the lack of ability for renting some of these spaces. They’re in such rough shape that’s it’s dangerous to go into them.”

The big picture

“We’re trying to listen to the complaints, but also what the bigger picture is, and say, ‘How do we fix the entirety of the building. How do we let people know that, although it’s the same owner, it’s under new maintenance management and that the facility is ready to be built to suit for anybody that needs a space?’ ” Thompson said.

He said there has been much more interest in the plaza now that his company is involved. Thompson said of the Ames space, “We just turned the lights back on for the first time in about 30 years. It is the largest space, other than, like Tops, that is available on Grand Island – and it has been wasted.

“We have had a lot of interest (expressed) in a facility like this. Getting stuff done sometimes is a little bit more difficult. You have to involve the local government, you have to involve inspectors, you have to involve the investors. It can be a little tricky, but we absolutely have had interest.”

AMS co-owner Lanthier said they talked to Garcia.

“We’ll try to come up with a game plan to revitalize this area.” Lanthier said, “I’m also a fireman here, for 25 years, so I want to see this do good. It’s an eyesore. It’s time to change that.”

He quipped, “It’s like trying to resurrect a dinosaur.”

Garcia said his conversations with Singh have been positive.

“Thus far, he’s been a gentleman, very open and kind. … He’s currently indicating he’s willing to make some of these changes,” Garcia said. “These are requests, not demands.”