BUFFALO, N.Y. — There’s history in the skylines around Buffalo and Western New York.

Many buildings, especially along the railroad tracks and water, have been in and out of use for approximately 200 years. Right now, there's a debate over whether to save one historic structure in South Buffalo.

"Right behind us is the Allied Mills complex," said Preservation Buffalo Niagara executive director Bernice Radle. "It's important to say what could this be? Right? We see something that's all that's been forgotten that's vacant. And a lot of people just say demolish. That's the answer, but the truth is restoring buildings like this is truly our future."

A neighborhood and its old, rundown, grain elevator. While many living in the shadow of its disrepair are fed up, not everyone sees it as an eyesore.

"So to a historian, it's beautiful," Radle added. "The architect who designed this elevator designed others in Buffalo and across the country."

She knows about its history, being in operation from 1920 through the 1940s. But she's heard the complaints.

"It's easy to understand why they would be upset, right? They're worried about the lawns, etc., and safety and all these things.," Radle said.

But like so many redeveloped buildings in and around the Nickel City, there are options.

"The real desire to be part of Buffalo's Renaissance," architectural partner Jerry Young at Young + Wright said of bringing the business into a similar building only a few blocks away from the Allied complex.

Radle has worked with Young before and knows what he's got going on just down the road at 50 Elk.

"It was very moist," Young pointed out about a shell of a property acquired in 2016. "There were four columns over here that you can put your finger through the steel that's that's how little there was left."

The price tag on this giant table that wouldn't catch fire decades ago and the dilapidated building around it? Just $5,000. Developing the whole structure? 

"We originally planned for $2.3 million and we ended up spending more like $3.2 million," Young said.

Radle and the preservation board aren't accountants but they have the capability to come into a building like this and help developers save parts of a building while making the most of the rest.

"I think these old buildings really, historic buildings really play a great role in helping small businesses," she said.

The root of all the development here at the Silos on Elk or any potential for the grain elevator on Buffalo River Place: tax credits to the tune of millions.

"Without that, this project doesn't take place. The numbers don't work," said Young.

So Radle and company will try to save historic structures without upsetting too many neighbors, and giving developers some guidance to get the most for their dollars in the neighborhoods.

"If people were out there thinking 'I needed space for my business' or 'I really had one; I live in a full building' or 'I wish Buffalo would take care of the parks or maintain the roads,' well, this is how we do it," Radle said. "We do it by bringing the buildings back to life, getting them back on the tax rolls and getting more money revolving and moving around in our community."

There is a meeting for community members to voice their support for demolition or redevelopment coming up in September.