Strictly Business

From Business Today:

Amid all the whining about the lousy economy and  anti-business climate, it's easy to overlook firms that are just getting out there and doing it. Niagara Blower, a 107-year-old Buffalo company, is going gangbusters, installing specialized climate control systems all over the world. It's latest big contract is an indoor botanical garden at a national park in Singapore. Sounds like Peter Demakos, company president, and the other folks at Niagara Blower are too busy to complain about the little things...

The fight to keep tenants in the HSBC Tower could involve public money. The owners of the building are talking to the Empire State Economic Development Corp. about getting state money to make the building more attractive to its primary tenants, HSBC Bank and law firm Phillips Lytle. Meanwhile, the 38-story tower just had its tax assessment reduced by $6 million, to $64 million. Some in the local real estate community fear that if the two tenants vacate 87 percent of the city's tallest building, it will push down commercial rents all over the city.

Lower condos could be what's in store for any addition to the Lakefront Commons, beside LaSalle Park along the I-190 on Bufalo's watrerfront. A developer had won planning board approval for new condos on 1.3 acres, but a group of neighbors sued. A judge ruled that the new condos violated the covenants of the existing condo association because they were three-stories tall. The existing condos are two-stories tall.

Who is getting hired, promoted and honored?