Debt collector scraps plan to build new office building
P&B Capital Group blames state for moving slowly on brownfield incentives
Buffalo debt collector P&B Capital Group has scratched plans to build a $4 million office building in the Buffalo Lakeside Commerce Park, a waterfront development site.
Chris McMaster, the company’s attorney, blamed the scrapping on foot-dragging by the state’s brownfield incentive program. The growing debt collector, formerly called Phillips & Burns LLC, was forced to expand in its Florida location instead.
“We made the application in December of ’07,” McMaster said. “It’s taken this long before there was any indication from the DEC (state Department of Environmental Conservation.)”
The company couldn’t go ahead with plans to build on the brownfield site without a release from responsibility for past contamination, he said.
P&B has about 55 jobs at its current office on Ellicott Street and 45 at an office in Tampa, he said. The company will continue looking for a
larger office within Buffalo for expansion, he said.
David Stebbins, president of the Buffalo Urban Development Corp., said the state recently ended a 90-day freeze on brownfield incentives, instituted because of large grants going to downstate developments.Gov. David Paterson signed legislation modifying the program in July.
Stebbins said that P&B’s release from contamination liability wasn’t in doubt. What was in question were tax credits for the building. The company may not have qualified for credits because of the low level of contamination on the proposed site, he said.
The collection company would have been the first office building in the commerce park, which is located at the former Union Ship Canal site in South Buffalo. Stebbins said other prospective office developers are being sought.
Meanwhile, Sonwil Distribution is going ahead with plans for a 300,000 square-foot warehouse, an anchor of the commerce park, Stebbins said. Last week, Sonwil formally acquired 50 acres in the park from Buffalo Urban Development, marking another step forward for the project.
