Vacant South Buffalo Lighthouse is for sale 105-year-old structure being marketed first to local organizations

 

For Sale: Historic waterfront property. Forty-three feet tall, circular floor plan, fantastic views of Lake Erie and Buffalo’s outer harbor.

The property in question is the South Buffalo Lighthouse, and the seller is the federal government.

The General Services Administration is giving local governments and nonprofit agencies first bids at acquiring the South Buffalo Lighthouse, and the minimum required bid could be as low as $5,000.

The 105-year-old lighthouse, which has been dark since 1988, stands at the south entrance to Buffalo’s outer harbor, on Stony Point, at the tip of the former Bethlehem Steel site.

The General Services Administration, which is in charge of selling the U. S. Coast Guard property, is giving local governments and nonprofit agencies first shot at acquiring the property. If there are no takers by Sept. 23, the lighthouse will be sold via an online auction.

The GSA has not revealed what the minimum bid for the South Buffalo beacon might be. However, based on auctions of similar small lighthouses, it could be as low as $5,000.

It’s also very sturdy, surviving a brush with a tug boat in 1909 and a lake freighter in 1910.

In addition to the lighthouse, any would-be owner also will get a cast iron fog signal house and a modest, concrete lighthouse keeper’s quarters that has been turned into a utility shed.

Surplus lighthouses have found diverse new lives as museums, maritime study labs, private residences, restaurants and even vacation outposts.

The GSA works with the U. S. Department of Interior and the U. S. Parks Service to put unwanted lighthouses in public and private hands. Following guidelines dictated by the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, it will give priority standing to groups proposing to use it for education, recreation, park, cultural or historic preservation purposes.

If the lighthouse goes to private control, the new owner also will have to comply with preservation policies tied to the structure’s status on the National Register of Historic Places.

By virtue of their original purpose, most orphan lighthouses are geographically remote and utilitarian in style. The Buffalo Harbor South Entrance Light, as it is officially known, falls into both those categories.

Tom Johnston president of the Buffalo Lighthouse Association, said his group will likely apply for control of the dormant harbor guardian and open it to the public.

“We’re in the lighthouse business, so it would be in good hands,” Johnston said.

The lighthouse group is best known for its work to restore the circa-1833 Buffalo Lighthouse, located on the Coast Guard station at the tip of Fuhrmann Boulevard. The group has raised some $400,000 to preserve that historic site.

Rep. Brian Higgins said he would prefer the South Buffalo Lighthouse be controlled by a nonprofit group than fall into private hands.

“It’s a piece of Buffalo waterfront history, and it would be great if it could be treated as a public treasure,” said Higgins, D-Buffalo. “The lighthouse association has the experience and sense of history to do it right.”

If the group makes its interest official, the acquisition process will be lengthy, perhaps taking 18 to 24 months.

The Maritime Activity Interyouth Network, a nonprofit marine education group that is the parent corporation of Seven Seas Sailing School, has previously expressed interest in gaining operating rights to the site. William Zimmerman, the network’s executive director, said he plans to talk with the lighthouse association about pooling resources.

If neither of the groups applies by the September deadline, the lighthouse could go up for bid this fall. Currently, the GSA has four online lighthouse auctions in progress, including two off New York’s Staten Island. As of Friday, West Bank Lighthouse has a high bid of $195,000, while bidding for the Old Orchard Shoal Light Station stands at $135,000. Bidding on two more lighthouses, including one in Cleveland, will open next month.