By JAMES FINK
Business First

The University at Buffalo may eventually relocate its law school to a downtown Buffalo location, but not necessarily to the vacant Statler Towers.

Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, who this past weekend urged UB to move its law school to the Statler Towers, said following a Jan. 19 meeting with university President John Simpson that he hopes he has laid a foundation for the professional school to end up somewhere in Buffalo.

UB has said that it will move its 740-student law school from its Amherst campus to Buffalo as part of its sweeping UB 2020 master plan. No time frame has been set for when the law school will relocate.

"I'm just asking the university to be flexible and creative," Higgins said during a Wednesday morning Buffalo Place Inc. meeting.

The recently mothballed Statler has been the subject of much speculation since the 18-story, nearly 800,000-square-foot building was placed into involuntary Chapter 11 protection and subsequently ordered closed after one potential purchaser fell through on its offer.

Higgins said it makes sense to move the law school to the Statler given its proximity to the state, federal and local courts and most of the region's law firms.

But the congressman ac-knowledges that the cost of the Statler redevelopment effort may be too much for UB or any other single entity to absorb. Redevelopment costs are pegged at $100 million by most real estate/construction insiders.

"UB can't be expected to take on the Statler and fix it by themselves," Higgins said. "UB feels it is not their problem to solve."

Higgins and Simpson, in a prepared statement, didn't entirely close the door on the Statler as a possible location for the law school.

"Today's dialogue also left open the concept of locating the law school in downtown Buffalo, within the context of UB's overall master planning," the Jan. 19 joint statement read. "It also opened the door to the university's involvement in the community's planning about the best future use of the Statler Towers."

UB's Law School was on W. Eagle Street in downtown Buffalo until the early 1970s, when it moved to the Amherst campus. The university said relocating the school to Buffalo is a central element of its UB 2020 master plan, although no specific location was mentioned. Many had assumed that the school would eventually be moved to UB's South Campus.

The Statler has attracted the interest of several out-of-town investors, although none has stepped forward with a development contract or offer to court-appointed trustee Morris Horwitz or his special counsel, Hodgson Russ LLP partner Garry Graber.

Earlier this week, Preservation Buffalo Niagara said it was recommending that the building be placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual list of "11 Endangered" buildings. That designation is expected to be announced in the spring.

During the Buffalo Place meeting, Paul Ciminelli, president of Ciminelli Development Co., suggested that the Statler be placed in the hands of the public sector as a means of finding a new owner for the building.

Ciminelli said a public entity could issue a request for proposals from developers and investors.

"We've got to look and find the highest, best possible use," Ciminelli said. "The building is in the worst shape now that it has ever been."