What's Happening in Buffalo, NY…

Paul Kolkmeyer, a major developer in the Buffalo area, is selling some of his properties in order to focus on new opportunities downtown.

Kolkmeyer has put two apartment buildings up for sale, namely Morris Manor, with 54 units, and Mercer Commons, with 27 units. Kolkmeyer bought the buildings several years ago, and has spent more than $1.5m renovating them. CBRE-Buffalo is handling the transaction.

The developer has been active in Buffalo commercial real estate for the past eight years. Late last year, he changed direction when he and his partners, Ronald Toski and Andrew Shaevel, bought five office buildings in Buffalo's downtown for $11.7m. The partners bought the Main Court, Roblin, Main Seneca, Rand, and Stanton buildings from David Sweet. They are now preparing to invest $36m in order to renovate and reuse three of the buildings.

Kolkmeyer plants to put his corporate office in the Stanton, and convert the rest of the building to 36 loft apartments. Further, he plans to convert the two bottom floors of the Roblin into a parking ramp with 49 spaces that will service the condos he is planning to build atop the Marine Trust Building, which is next door to the Roblin. He plans to put a banquet facility and boutique hotel on the Marine Trust's first three floors.

To reach out to commercial realtors, Kolkmeyer could work with brochure printers to create a booklet about these projects.