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AMHERST STATE PARK
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WITH NO TAX BREAK, DEVELOPER AMENDS OFFER
TO BUY ST. MARY'S MOTHERHOUSE
Buffalo News, January 9, 2001 by Lisa Haarlander
If Amherst wants to go through with the proposed sale of the St. Mary of the Angels motherhouse property, then the town must accept less money.
Peregrine Development Co. says it will not purchase the property for the agreed-upon $2.3 million and turn it into senior housing, because the town failed to get the company a substantial tax break officials had promised.
Peregrine President Stephen S. Bowman said he is giving the town several options.
Instead of paying $2.3 million, Peregrine is now willing to pay $2 million, Bowman said. Or, if the town removes its requirement that he offer 10 low-income apartments, he would pay $2.12 million.
He said he also is open to other proposals.
"I left the door open," he said.
The Town Board discussed his offers behind closed doors Monday. Supervisor Susan J. Grelick did not return calls to her office or home after the meeting ended.
Several months ago, Peregrine signed a contract with the town stating it would buy the property if the town met certain obligations. As part of the deal, town officials had promised to make the property tax-exempt.
The deal fell apart when town Assessor Harry E. Williams ruled that the project did not meet standards for being exempt from town, school and county taxes.
"Even though it's a not-for-profit organization, that doesn't mean it's tax-exempt," Williams said.
No profit is made because most of the profit goes into salaries, he said, rather than providing more services to the community.
"The question is, 'Are they doing something beneficial to the community?' and we're not talking about giving away a few apartments at low rents," he said.
A few years ago, Williams ruled that Canterbury Woods, a retirement community run by Episcopal Church Home & Affiliates, also was not tax-exempt.
Bowman disagrees with the ruling. He agreed to reserve 10 apartments for low-income residents and to rent the town 10,000 square feet for $1 a year.
Without the exemption, the tax bill is about $220,000 a year, Bowman said. However, the Amherst Industrial Development Agency has agreed to give Peregrine tax breaks that will reduce the tax bill, but it will still be hundreds of thousands more than if the town had declared the project tax-exempt, Bowman said.
Peregrine plans to build a 150-unit facility for middle-income senior citizens. The $12 million project is expected to create 40 full-time and 10 part-time jobs.
The Town of Amherst purchased the site from the Sisters of St. Francis religious order to protect the motherhouse and preserve surrounding land as a park after the religious order moved to new facilities last fall.
The town and state each paid $2.5 million for the historic building and surrounding land, now a state park.