Buffalo’s historic grain elevators are no longer just silent giants on the river—they’re becoming vibrant centers for culture, community, and innovation. At Silo City, the American Grain Complex and the Perot Malting Company Facility have been carefully documented and preserved with the help of KTA Preservation Specialists. Our work on the National Register nomination and Historic Tax Credit approvals allowed developers to access critical funding and honor the site’s history while creating new opportunities for its future. These spaces, once filled with the rumble of conveyors and the scent of grain, are now being reimagined for public gatherings, creative industries, and new economic life.

Built between 1906 and 1936, the Perot Elevator and Malthouse stood alongside the American Grain Complex as powerful engines of Buffalo’s grain industry. Together, they shaped the city’s identity as an international hub for storage, malting, milling, and shipment of grain. The Perot Facility in particular introduced advanced malting technologies, including the Saladin Box System, while the American Elevator was a model of early slip-form reinforced concrete construction. Connected by an overhead conveyor in 1922, the two complexes symbolized Buffalo’s industrial might, linking lake freighters, railroads, and processing plants into a seamless chain of commerce that influenced modern architecture and industry alike.

Once a symbol of Buffalo’s rise as the “Grain Capital of the World,” the American Grain Complex and the adjoining Perot Malting Company Facility had fallen silent for decades, their towering silos and industrial machinery left as relics of a vanished economy.

Today, these massive structures stand at the heart of a preservation and redevelopment effort that is giving them new life. KTA Preservation Specialists played a central role in this transformation, preparing the National Register nominations and securing Historic Tax Credits that allowed multiple buildings on the site to be rehabilitated. By weaving together the complex’s industrial past and its creative future, KTA helped ensure that these concrete and brick monuments remain an enduring part of Buffalo’s waterfront identity.

Today, the Silo City site is at the forefront of Buffalo’s adaptive reuse movement. The preservation framework laid by KTA not only secured the complex’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places but also made possible millions of dollars in rehabilitation through Historic Tax Credits. These efforts have won recognition at local and state preservation awards ceremonies, celebrating the project as a model of large-scale industrial reuse. The elevators and malthouses—once vacant and deteriorating—are now poised to become a destination for arts, performance, and community life, all while retaining the raw power and authenticity of their industrial past.