There’s currently one lone guard positioned at the former Michael J. Dillon Federal Court House on Niagara Square, but an ambitious proposal steered by State Sen. Marc Panepinto to move the UB Law School from its digs on Amherst’s North Campus could change that, and the landscape of downtown. 

Above the din of late-stage rush hour traffic, Panepinto was joined by developer and owner of the Statler Building, Mark Croce, to reinvigorate the idea of UB Law returning downtown. Croce announced at the press conference that he would donate an entire floor of the Statler—32,000 square feet—to UB Law as an extra incentive. 

The future of the Dillon building is unclear on this bright and warm November morning. A family of squirrels has taken up residence behind the sculpted stone eagle above the main doors at 68 Court street, and they were busy ferrying leaf litter into their habitat 20 feet above the makeshift podium wheeled onto the sidewalk. 

It’s not the first time lawmakers have proposed such a move, Congressman Brian Higgins floated the idea years ago with respect to the Statler Building, before the federal court house relocated diagonally across the square into a new building. With the 183,000 square foot former court building vacant and the US Government Services Administration opening the property to non-federal government and non-profit entities for plans, Croce and Panepinto believe the time is now. Croce said, “This is a unique opportunity in time when you think about the history of this square.”

It’s uncertain if there’s much agreement elsewhere, with one reporter pointing out the lack of other elected officials at the press conference and UB’s stated master plan of moving UB Law to South Campus. But Panepinto claimed the student body and local legal community are all-in on the plan, citing that 73 percent of current and former UB Law School students are in favor of relocating downtown, and he has launched an online petition to give others the opportunity to voice their support.

Panepinto said it three times: “Sudden change is something we all need to prepare for.” Believing that the Dillon building could be had at “low or no cost” and that an entire floor of the Statler would be leased for $1 by Croce “for administrative, classroom, or support space,” both Croce and Panepinto were careful to state they are “encouraging, not pressuring” UB, to reconsider its stance given the 215,000 square feet of low-cost and prime real estate. 

UB’s medical school, now located on North Buffalo’s South Campus, will be moving into the under-construction new build in the medical corridor in the coming years, leaving a vacancy of space on South Campus that the university needs to plan for and fill. Panepinto said the current law school has an enrollment of around 450 students served by roughly 200,000 square feet of space in O’Brian Hall. 

It’s a logical move, given the concentration of courts, law firms, and government services located in downtown Buffalo, lawyers in training would be able to avail themselves of that activity and get a hands-on learning that could raise the profile of the law school internationally. There are currently four courthouses within two blocks of the Dillon building.

Panepinto stated that he respects UB’s master plan but as the only member of the State Senate with both an undergraduate degree and a law degree from SUNY’s only law school, he has a unique perspective on the institution’s planning. “I bleed blue and white,” the senator said. He also said he has not engaged President Satish Tripathi in talks about the move, but will do so now given Croce’s offer of space which was unbeknownst to the Senator before the press conference. 

Croce said his offer was not contingent on UB leasing a certain amount of other space from him, but said the synergy of the school moving downtown within a stone’s throw of his largely vacant building would allow him to develop further space for residences for prospective law students. 

The Dillon building is gradually moving through the process of federal divestment, with a period that just ended on November 1st during which it was made available for other federal government purposes. Panepinto noted that should no plan emerge, the building would become prime real estate for any developer to convert into apartments.