69´«Ã½

The city received the bid in October from Construction, Design and Management, of Brewerton. According to the bid, which 69´«Ã½ obtained this month through a Freedom of Information Law request, the firm proposed temporarily relocating the steel railcar restaurant to a city property, such as the former landfill, until the city could find a new owner who would permanently relocate it.

The firm placed a price tag of $371,217 on the five-week project. It would have included removing the Hunter Dinerant from its perch above the Owasco River on Genesee Street and demolishing both the wooden kitchen structure behind the restaurant and the concrete piers below it. The price, which the city would have had to pay, would not have included a hazardous materials survey and abatement. 

In a Dec. 19 letter to Construction, Design and Management, also obtained by 69´«Ã½ through a FOIL request, the city declined the firm's bid. Though the city did not say why in its letter, Director of Planning and Economic Development Jenny Haines told 69´«Ã½ this week that the firm's price was one reason. The other was the fact the firm would not have taken ownership of the restaurant.

Haines previously told 69´«Ã½ the city hopes to find a bidder to not only take ownership of the historic 69´«Ã½ restaurant but relocate it in a way that's "fiscally responsible to our taxpayers." 

Now, Haines said, the city will complete an asbestos survey on the 18 Genesee St. restaurant while looking at its options to "get the diner into productive use somewhere else in the community."

The Hunter Dinerant, which was into its current downtown location in 1951, served its last customer on Dec. 31, 2022. The city took ownership of the restaurant the following May through tax foreclosure. After study, the city determined that the restaurant's position above the river poses a danger due to the possibility of a breach of the Mill Street Dam a quarter of a mile upstream. 

Given the restaurant's beloved neon '50s iconography and connection to the family of President Joseph Biden, however, the city issued a request for proposals last fall to remove and relocate it.

"There is a significant community connection to this spot. So we want to be careful, respectful and thoughtful about how we handle this because of that connection and the emotion around the diner," Haines told 69´«Ã½ in September. "We know the diner is important, but we also know that it's important to keep the community safe."