BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A considerable cluster of downtown Buffalo is up for sale after developer Douglas Jemal offloaded 10 properties.
The 10 properties on Huron and Ellicott Streets are close together and grouped into two for sale, as first reported by Buffalo Business First.
Jemal bought the vacant properties and parking lots back in 2021 for $5 million, and today's asking price is a little over that at $5.9 million.
So is Jemal done with Buffalo?
WATCH: Developer Douglas Jemal puts 10 properties up for sale in downtown Buffalo
"Not in the least. It's the business of real estate. Buying, selling, making money on real estate in a number of different ways," said James Militello of J.R Militello Real Estate, the company brokering the sale.
I reached out to Jemal for comment and did not hear anything back, but Militello is adamant that the developer still has business and insisted Jemal is simply consolidating his portfolio, which includes the Seneca One building, The Statler and the Elmwood-Bidwell apartments.
The lots on sale total about 76,000 square feet and span approximately 1.7 acres of land, according to Militello.
"So that’s pretty dramatic for an urban setting like this, that amount of real estate," Militello said.
Jemal originally planned to create a mixture of residential units and commercial space on the sites, "The Electric District," in a nod to the previous owner, Simon Electric. Militello told me a new developer can scrap those plans and start over if they wish.
"You can have the traditional surface parking lots, which is a very dramatic business in downtown Buffalo, having parking, they could be new ground-up office developments, they could be new apartments or existing buildings can be renovated as historic use.”
