LOCKPORT, N.Y. (WKBW) — The $66-million redevelopment of Lockport’s Bewley Building has been called off. Developers said they have decided to move on after repeated city opposition to the mixed-use development.
Bewley Building management tells me the Market Street staple has fallen to 80% vacancy, a stark drop from 55% at the end of 2025.
In order to keep the building open, Edgemere Development and PathStone Development planned to work together to convert the Bewley into a mixed-use space with ground-level commercial space and about 100 apartments.
The apartments were initially proposed as affordable housing but were later changed to market rate.
Regardless of the type of apartments, that proposal sparked a seemingly never-ending disagreement between the developers and the city government.
WATCH: Lockport mayor opposes Bewley Building's mixed-use, affordable housing concept
Last month, the developers told me they had asked the city to rezone the Bewley Building's parking lot, so they could build an additional stair tower on the building’s side.
That was then near-unanimously denied by the Lockport Common Council (5 to 1), which appeared to be the final straw for this multi-million-dollar development.
“In light of the mayor’s opposition and the City Council’s vote, we have made the extremely difficult decision to move on from the project,” Charlie Oster with Edgemere Development, Inc. said to me in a statement.
“[The vote] kind of surprised me, but some of the reasons the aldermen gave me after the fact made a lot of sense to me. They didn’t want to see the comprehensive plan that we worked so hard on be opened back up and adjusted," Mayor John Lombardi said.
Lombardi tells me that he is already looking for a new developer, and a 2016 study into the city’s growing tourism industry has him eyeing a new idea.
“I honestly believe the Bewley Building would be a beautiful boutique hotel with some retail on the first floor," Lombardi said. "20-30 rooms, maybe a little more, would be ideal for the tourism aspect of Lockport with Cornerstone CFCU Arena across the way, within 50 yards."
WATCH: ‘Difficult decision’: Bewley Building developers back out of $66M redevelopment plans
Bewley Building management sent me a statement that said the city’s opposition to the investment was unfortunate, but that they plan to recommit to the Bewley Building as a commercial space. They say it will be a difficult journey, but that they plan to reinvest in the local staple.
“The Bewley Building has been an important part of downtown Lockport for generations, and we believe it can continue to be one.
To be clear, we never originally set out to convert the Bewley Building into housing. We were approached with an opportunity to work with PathStone on a major redevelopment of the property. Given the building’s age, its declining office occupancy, and the fundamental changes in the office market since COVID, we came to believe that a mixed-use redevelopment represented the highest and best long-term use of the property.
The proposal represented approximately $66 million of investment in downtown Lockport, while preserving commercial space on the first floor and historically rehabilitating the building.
It is also worth remembering that the concept of redeveloping the Bewley Building for housing did not originate with us. Lockport’s own 2018 Downtown Revitalization Plan specifically identified the Bewley Building as an opportunity for redevelopment to help address the need for market-rate housing downtown.
Unfortunately, despite the substantial investment that was proposed and the evolution of the project, it became clear that the City’s elected leadership did not support that direction. The Common Council formally opposed the conversion in 2025, and additional uncertainty continued as the project moved through the process.
We believe the loss of an approximately $66 million private and public investment in downtown Lockport is unfortunate. Nevertheless, we recognize the direction the City has chosen, and our focus now is not on fighting that battle. It is about moving forward.
Our plan is to recommit to the Bewley Building as a commercial property.
We will be reinvesting in the building, addressing deferred aesthetic items, repairing the damaged storefront windows, improving services and, most importantly, focusing on our existing tenants. We want our tenants to stay, and we intend to provide them with a stable, well-managed and affordable place to conduct business.
There is a significant amount of office and storefront space available. We intend to offer very competitive terms to businesses that would like to establish or expand their presence in downtown Lockport.
All of this being said we are realistic. The demand for 93,000 square feet of traditional office space in downtown Lockport is not what it was decades ago, and the post-COVID office market has changed considerably. That was one of the reasons we believed adaptive reuse made sense in the first place. But that does not mean the Bewley Building cannot be a successful and valuable commercial property.
It can, and that is now our objective.
Our hope and expectation is to see the same enthusiasm from City leadership for helping us rebuild occupancy at the Bewley Building that was demonstrated in opposing its redevelopment. We would like to see everyone — ownership, tenants, local businesses and City leadership — pulling in the same direction and encouraging businesses to take another look at the Bewley.
The building has been part of downtown Lockport for a very long time. We’re not walking away from it. We’re going to reinvest in it, stabilize it and work to make it an attractive and affordable home for businesses again.”
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