Developer Douglas Jemal, a native of Queens who made his fortune in real estate in Washington, D.C., came to Buffalo with great fanfare nine years ago when he bought Seneca One tower out of foreclosure.
The city’s tallest building was vacant and at risk of being mothballed, but he added apartments, brought in new office tenants and revived the complex, recruiting M&T Bank as the anchor tenant with its technology hub and adding restaurant space now occupied by Other Half Brewing.
And he went on a buying and redevelopment spree across downtown Buffalo and beyond, snapping up both major and minor properties with a vision to restore density and vibrancy to the city’s core by adding hundreds of apartments, stores and restaurant space to attract more people.
He purchased the former Buffalo Police headquarters and converted it into apartments.
He acquired the Statler Buffalo after developer Mark Croce died in a helicopter crash, as well as the Hyatt Regency Buffalo from Snyder Corp.
He took over the closed former Hotel Henry, renovated and reopened it as the Richardson Hotel, and agreed to take on the rest of the complex. He even spent $200,000 of his own money to reimburse couples whose weddings had been upended by Hotel Henry’s earlier closure.
He bought a vacant parking lot surrounded by a highway loop near Seneca One, with plans for a nine-story apartment building and parking ramp. He purchased the Mohawk Ramp from the city, and the adjacent Simon Electric properties from Bert Simon, with plans for apartments and commercial space.
He planned a complete overhaul of the Boulevard Mall in Amherst. And he bought the HSBC Atrium and Buffalo News properties next to Canalside.
He even spent $7.5 million to restore a historic building on High Street in the Fruit Belt, even though “the economics didn’t work,” because he didn’t want to harm the historic neighborhood.
But as interest rates rose and construction costs soared following the Covid-19 pandemic, Jemal has paused work on many of his projects and, more recently, sought to sell some of his holdings here to raise cash.
Reach Jonathan D. Epstein at (716) 849-4478 or jepstein@buffnews.com.
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Jonathan D. Epstein
News Business Reporter
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