ITHACA -- The Ciminelli Development Co. of Buffalo initially just wanted to acquire M&T Bank's parking lot at 122 E. Seneca St. for its $28 million office building and hotel. Now, as part of the deal, the developer will also buy the Buffalo-based bank's building across the street.

Ciminelli and M&T officials said Friday that the bank wanted to get out of the landlord business -- and that Ciminelli is in the business of buying properties and turning them around.

"Once we come into a community, we usually look for other opportunities to invest," David Chiazza, Ciminelli's vice president for development, said Friday.

Both Chiazza and M&T spokesman Mike Zabel declined to disclose the amount Ciminelli will pay for the parking lot and the six-story building, designed by Ithaca architects Arthur Norman Gibb and Ornan H. Waltz for the Ithaca Savings Bank and built in 1924. It is assessed at $2.5 million, according to the Tompkins County Department of Assessment.

Chiazza said Ciminelli will complete the purchase of the building at 114-118 N. Tioga St. in the next 30 to 45 days.

Despite the change in ownership, M&T will lease space from Ciminelli for its Ithaca operations, which include a branch on the ground floor and a mortgage office on the sixth floor, Zabel said.

The rest of the six-story building is occupied by attorneys' offices and other professional offices, but there is some remaining empty space that Ciminelli will market, Chiazza said.

City and downtown officials, many of whom knew the purchase was pending, spoke in support of it Friday.

"The fact that the M&T Bank building is part of this overall project is something that we've known about and that we've thought has been a good idea," said Gary Ferguson, executive director of the Ithaca Downtown Partnership.

"All of a sudden we have somebody who has responsibility for a lot of space. They're going to be extremely aggressive in their leasing and their management, and we think that will bode well for everybody," Ferguson said.

"The purchase demonstrates confidence not only in their particular project, but in the downtown as a whole," Mayor Alan Cohen said.

Ciminelli's own nine-story project, called Seneca Place on The Commons, includes a office building that will house 500 workers, namely about 300 Cornell University employees. It also includes a 110-room Hilton Garden Inn and and ground-floor retail space.

The project required Ciminelli to acquire portions of five separate tax parcels, including the M&T parking lot, the former Ithaca Town Hall at 126 E. Seneca St. and the corner building that houses Race Office Equipment at 128-134 E. Seneca St.

Ciminelli has closed on the purchase of the corner property, about five months after the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency voted to use eminent domain to acquire the property for Ciminelli.

Governments can use eminent domain to acquire property for public use by compensating the owner. Race Office Equipment Owner A. Thomas Pine, who owned half of the corner property, agreed to sell his share for $637,000 in May, after more than two years of controversy.

The agreement also included $56,250 for relocating Race Office Equipment and the two other businesses located in the building, the Audio Hearing Aid Center and Cameras 'N Things.

Pine now plans to move his business to The Commons and expand his inventory. The Audio Hearing Aid Center, has moved to 704 W. Buffalo St., after 38 years at its old location, said owner Michael Bach. He said the new location is nearly twice as big as the old one and that there's better parking.

"It's nicer, and we're trying to put the word out to survive," he said.

Cameras 'N Things is now in the midst of a liquidation sale. At 64, owner Mike Corrente said he decided he didn't want to relocate his business, in operation for 31 years.

"I decided maybe this was the time to wrap it up," he said. "It's like a Broadway show. Sooner or later, the show has to close."

Demolition of the buildings on the site likely will begin in December, and construction of the office building and hotel is expected to begin in January, Chiazza said.

The city could break ground on a related project, a seven-level parking garage on South Cayuga Street behind the Tompkins County Public Library, in December, Cohen said.

The city recently received a letter of credit from M&T Bank that was needed for Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency to vote on issuing up to $20 million in tax-exempt bonds for the project, Cohen said. The IDA has not yet met to vote on the matter.

Contact: lbishop@ithaca.gannett.com

Originally published Saturday, November 1, 2003