BUFFALO, N.Y. — Mark Croce is among the most recognizable names on the Buffalo business scene. He began as a successful restaurateur, opening, among other businesses, the Buffalo Chophouse. Over the past decade he has concentrated on higher profile projects.
Croce bought the former Statler Hilton in 2011 for $200,000, plus $500,000 in back taxes that he paid to clear the building's past debts. He renamed it Statler City, and invested over $7 million in an overhaul of the first three floors to create a successful banquet and events center, which reopened on Dec. 31, 2011.
Three years ago Croce opened a rehabbed a 1911 office building under the new name, The Curtiss Hotel. The high-tech lighting, revolving bar and rooftop bar made a splash on the Buffalo nightclub scene in February of 2017.
The well-known businessman was also known by friends for his passion for flying. Croce's red helicopter was a familiar site along Buffalo's waterfront.
The Erie County Sheriff's Office said Croce worked with the Reserve Aviation Unit and Reserve Scientific Staff as well.
Croce was killed Thursday night in Mechanicsburg, Pa., along with another well-known businessman 63 year old Michael Capriotto, also of Orchard Park. They died when their helicopter went down on its way from Washington, D.C. to Buffalo. Mark Croce was 58 years old.
A Buffalo Booster
Croce built his business empire by snapping up parking lots, and taking a chances on buildings in the Franklin & Chippewa area, when the Chippewa entertainment district was in its fledgling stage.
He was known as someone who was a visionary, who loved a challenge, and whose ability to conquer those challenges made wealthy.
Mostly though, he might be remembered as someone who believed in Buffalo, according to his longtime friend and neighbor A.J. Baynes, lead a moment of silence among more than 400 attendees at the Amherst Chamber of Commerce annual luncheon on Friday.
"Mark Croce was a part of a handful of developers who were Buffalo boosters and they believed in Buffalo at a time when nobody else really believed in Buffalo," said Baynes. "Mark was part of that equation that helped with the renaissance of Western New York and with the renaissance of downtown Buffalo."
That point was not lost on Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown who called Croce "a big part of our downtown resurgence...whose presence will be sorely missed."
Brown's predecessor at City Hall, former Mayor Anthony Massiello, called Croce "a pioneer who saw the great potential of our city."
U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins said of Croce, "Mark was as big a booster of Buffalo as there ever was."
Croce leaves behind a wife and two young sons, as well as sizable business interests.
In a statement his company, Buffalo Development Corporation, said it wished to assure the public and its hundreds of employees that the business will continue without interruption.