By JAMES FINK
jfink@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1611

The Hamister Group has emerged as the likely buyer of the towering Tischman Building, which overlooks Lafayette Square in Buffalo.

Mark Hamister, chairman and CEO of the Hamister Group, confirmed that he has the 19-story, 200,000-square-foot building under contract. It's owned by a New York-based investment group.

The building was listed at $3.2 million and M.J. Peterson Real Estate Corp. agent Gunner Tronolone was the listing agent.

The sale price was not disclosed.

Hamister did say, however, that some deposit money "goes hard" at the end of the month. He expects to make a formal announcement about the deal this summer.

"We are putting all of our resources together and making it a top priority to make this a reality," he said. "But there still are a number of things that have to come together."

The deal would bring new life to a building that has been struggling to find tenants and sought new ownership for the past few years. It also will see several hundred new workers in Buffalo's central business district.

National Fuel Gas Co. anchored the building for many years before moving to Amherst more than a decade ago.

Plans call for Hamister to move his corporate offices from Amherst to the 53-year-old Tischman Building and develop a 130-room Hilton Garden Inn hotel. Those plans shift the bulk of the original development blueprint that he and Rocco Termini proposed for the long-vacant AM&A's flagship department store to the Tischman Building.

The plans called for Hamister's offices, a 117-room Hilton Garden Inn and senior apartments.

"I hope he does it," Termini said of Hamister's plans for the Tischman Building.

Both he and Hamister said they remain interested in doing some sort of renovation to the eight-story AM&A's building, but not in the immediate future.

"It's a heavy reach," Termini said. "It needs some soft money, which in this economy is just not available."

Hamister agreed, saying that any development of the AM&A's building is probably "five or 10 years off."

Termini's main focus is his planned redevelopment of the Hotel Lafayette on Washington Street into a mixed-use project with apartments, a boutique hotel and catering operation.

Meanwhile, Hamister is working with officials from the City of Buffalo, Empire State Development Corp. and the Erie County Industrial Development Agency on crafting an incentive package. The bulk of the project will be privately financed, he said.

"Everyone has been great," he said. "Everybody wants to see the Tischman work."