For almost 30 years, a number of developers have tried and failed to come up with a way to reuse the old Lockport post office.
Iskalo Development Corp. thinks it can change that – with government help.
The Williamsville company has applied for a package of tax incentives for its planned $6 million renovation of the building into a multitenant facility.
In 2015, the company bought the building at East Avenue and Elm Street for $300,000 without a firm plan for what to do with it, executive vice president David Chiazza said.
"(Company owner) Paul Iskalo had liked the building and (had) seen it. It came up for sale and we thought, 'Yeah, we should put a toehold into Lockport,' " Chiazza said.
There are a few tenants on the first floor of what is now officially called the Historic Post Office, but Iskalo's application to the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency says the basement and the upper two floors are basically unusable.
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Government funding will carry most of the burden of changing that.
Besides the 10-year payment in lieu of taxes arrangement Iskalo seeks from the NCIDA, the state has approved a $1.8 million grant, and Iskalo hopes to pocket nearly that much in state and federal historic preservation tax credits.
The requested tax breaks – which include reduced property taxes and exemptions from the county mortgage recording tax and from sales taxes on building materials and furnishings – would save Iskalo an estimated $1.15 million over 10 years, the NCIDA calculated.
The company intends to obtain a $2.5 million construction loan and invest $33,000 of its own money, the NCIDA application says.
The building was erected in 1904 and enlarged in 1932. In 1991, the U.S. Postal Service moved out, and a variety of owners have tried to reuse the old structure.
"We thought we were getting it for a pretty reasonable price but as we were getting into the building afterwards, we realized that in order to do what we need to do there, and given the rather depressed market that Lockport is, we couldn't really make economic sense out of it," Chiazza said.
The answer came from the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Grant that the state awarded to Lockport in 2018. Iskalo sought money from that pot for the post office and won $1.8 million.
"That was really the difference-maker for us," Chiazza said.
The basement, second and third floors are "in disrepair," Chiazza said. "There's no elevator servicing those floors, the restroom facilities are kind of antiquated, so I don't think there's much demand for them. We did not put those floors into service because so much work needed to be done to them."
The renovation project will include the installation of an elevator and new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, including a sprinkler system for fire protection.
"For the building to be rentable, it needs to be handicapped accessible throughout and it's not currently," Chiazza said.
The building totals more than 31,000 square feet, but because of wide corridors and other design elements that will be preserved, only about 20,000 to 22,000 square feet will be available for tenants, Chiazza said.
There are two small on-site parking lots and a large city-owned parking lot adjoining the building.
"When you look at the publicly available parking, it's enough, especially in a walkable downtown like Lockport's," city Planning and Development Director Brian M. Smith said.
Chiazza hopes the tenants in the building will stay, including the office of the Lockport Main Street promotion agency, an antique shop, a music studio and a hair and nail salon. Plans envision a restaurant and a variety of small shops and offices.
"I think the Historic Post Office is one of those top-tier development properties in our city," Smith said. "We have a number of them that are underperforming."
An example is the vacant former YMCA right next to the old post office. Chiazza said Iskalo was interested in buying the YMCA and even had it under contract for a while before deciding not to make the deal because of the difficulties connected with reusing the building's unusual layout.
"Every market has its cycle. I think Lockport has seen its worst times and it can only get better and it is getting better," Chiazza said. "It's going to take a while. It's not going to happen overnight, just as it didn't happen overnight in Buffalo. We like to be in a market at the ground floor of its cycle and be there for its upswing, have a role in its upswing."
