A decade in review: Larkin Terminal Warehouse is reborn

In 2002 investment partners Howard Zemsky, Joe Petrella, Bill Smith, and Doug Swift purchase the idled, 600,000 sq. ft. Larkin Terminal Warehouse from Graphic Controls for $1 million.

 
Plans to convert its ten stories of former warehouse space to Western New York's premier Class-A office building are met with skepticism. The investors press forward with a $10 million renovation and snag an early home run, attracting in 2002 their first tenant in Capital Management Services, a collections firm with plans to grow from 150 to 750 employees within the year. "When we looked at this building, we envisioned its potential as a great place to work. But until a tenant comes along and buys into that vision as well, it isn't quite real," says Zemsky at the time. "This is now real."

  
In addition to remodeling space for Capital Management, Zemsky and his partners undertake a complete overhaul of the structure's heating, cooling, and electrical systems, along with a total window replacement and facade improvements. The signs for Graphic Controls are removed, and beneath them, crowning the corners of the building, the old Larkin Company logos are revealed.

In 2010 the structure is 100% occupied and is the centerpiece of an ongoing economic resurgence of the Hydraulics and the Larkin District.

Comments

[STEEL]

The sound of laughing all the way to the bank. class A office space for less than $19 sf.

These guys showed Buffalo how to do it. Funny though, so many still don't believe in Buffalo. Kinda like when Moses parted the sea and yet it was not a big enough miracle to get their attention. His people still made craven images against the Lord's will.