By Joyce Miles
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
LOCKPORT —
An out-of-town investor is moving to demolish an abandoned factory that’s been a blight on the Mill-Clinton streets neighborhood for decades.
Scott Krzyzanowski of Dayton, Texas, quietly acquired 89 Mill St. last month, with the thought it looked like a good “long-term investment” in a community he sees as being on the upswing.
Krzyzanowski and his wife, Diana, natives of Dunkirk, N.Y., and Newfane respectively, have made a few investments in Western New York in recent years. Business is booming for Krzyzanowski’s Liberty Plant Maintenance company in Texas but the call of home remains strong. As the youngest of their four children get closer to college-age, they’re looking for reasons to come back and stay longer, they said in an interview last week.
In a recent meeting with Mayor Michael Tucker, Krzyzanowski put out feelers for other developable commercial property in Lockport. He’s got his eye on “two or three” other parcels, he said, forgotten places on the outskirts of downtown where he sees potential for small businesses that cater to neighborhoods.
Of 89 Mill, a 1.6 acre parcel accessible from four streets — Mill, Clinton, Olcott and Chapel — Krzyzanowski says it could be an ideal location for a strip plaza. He’s been out introducing himself in the neighborhood and asking residents what they’d like to see on the corner. They’re telling him a convenience store/gas station, a car wash and/or a laundry center would be great — and he says he’s game for recruiting the cash investors to make it happen.
Of all the places in Western New York where Liberty Plant Maintenance, a three-generation industrial moving business, could seek to reestablish roots, Krzyzanowski is betting Lockport’s the place to start.
“All communities have a turnaround, eventually. I think Lockport will be ahead of the curve as New York state makes its recovery,” Krzyzanowski said. “GM is coming back, which means Delphi is coming back. Yahoo! is here. Canal tourism is growing and Lockport is a center of it; just look on the Internet and you can see it.”
That demolition of the ancient, crumbling paper mill at 89 Mill is actually on the horizon comes as a pleasant surprise to city officials. The city had seized the property for unpaid property taxes and sold it twice the past three years with no real expectation the buyer would do anything good with it. Niagara Rehab Associates of Toronto picked up the parcel for $500 in 2007, and between then and now the building was stripped of valuable metals and left to continue rotting. Last month, a Barker resident placed a winning bid of $1,200 on what the auctioneer not-so jokingly referred to as a big pile of bricks.
Shortly after the auction, according to Diana Krzyzanowski, her husband saw the decrepit property as they were driving to Newfane for father-in-law Bill Troupe’s 80th birthday party, said “ooooh!” and immediately set himself to tracking down the owner though City Hall.
City Treasurer Michael White admits he was reluctant to share any information with Krzyzanowski until he had a sense the Texas transplant was serious about the property. Frankly, White said, it’s a lot easier for the city to keep tabs on a locally based property owner than one who’s out of state or country. The Toronto outfit was unmoved by neighbors’ pleas that it do something with the building for the safety of neighborhood kids, unmoved by an outstanding city demolition order — and all the while it held the title, was legally untouchable.
Krzyzanowski does not operate that way, he promised. The property is already insured and, regardless how long it takes to line up investors for new building development, the old building is coming down as soon as possible. Demolition is one of Liberty Plant Maintenance’s specialties.
“I’ll have this one cleaned up in a month,” Krzyzanowski said. “It’ll be on the ground in a few weeks, I guarantee it.”
That big pile of bricks will come in handy, he added. If it’s permissible, he’ll use some to fill in the basement area of the old mill and cap the whole thing with asphalt.
So far, Krzyzanowski said, 89 Mill looks surprisingly “clean” as he’s found no drums or barrels signifying contamination issues. Weeds and crooked trees are on the way out but straight, young trees will stay. Locust trees and some bricks will be kept for use by his family, as Krzyzanowskis are avid recyclers, he said, but some of the remnants will be up for grabs by anyone who wants them.
“I know when (the mill) hits the ground there’ll be 40 to 50 people wanting two bricks, four brick, a truckload — and that’s fine. I’ll be a good neighbor,” he said. “I’ve been talking to a couple neighbors about using my equipment to help clean up their yards too. Getting (the mill) demolished and all the brush removed is going to increase the value of everybody’s property.”
City officials hold a wait-and-see view of Krzyzanowski’s plans for the Mill-Clinton corner. Tucker admits he’s unsure what to think of the guy who came into his office out of the blue a couple weeks ago talking up lowertown; it’s not a conversation he’s used to having with developers, and so far Krzyzanowski has only spoken in broad outlines, not specifics. Krzyzanowski keeping his promise to clean up 89 Mill certainly would earn him some appreciation from officials and residents, Tucker said.
“I’m sure the neighbors would be ecstatic not to have to look at that anymore,” Tucker said. “If (Krzyzanowski) does that much ... I will look forward to having more conversations with him” about the property.
