Twenty steps.  That's about how long it took Tony Kissling to decide what would be his next area project.  He wasn't necessarily looking for the Remington Rand building, but he found it or it found him.

Kissling, chairman of his New York-based real estate investment company, Kissling Interests LLC, has amassed an impressive local portfolio of projects.  He was headed to Niagara County a few years ago when he came upon the four-story, century-old building in NT overlooking the Erie Canal and the city's Gateway Park neighborhood.

To his surprise, Kissling found out the building was empty with no future.  "It was just sitting there," he said.  "You pick it up and put it into one of New York's boroughs and it would have been fully developed and full."

Walking through the building, Kissling became even more encouraged.  He could see its future despite an interior with graffiti-scrawled walls, peeling paint from concrete pillars, feathers from pigeons and a faded, nave "George Wallace for President" bumper sticker.

What Kissling saw was a historic building with postcard views of the Erie Canal, North Tonawanda and the Niagara River.  'It was built much in the same way as the Larkin building and look what they did there," he said.

Developer Howard Zemsky took the 600,000 sq ft, circa 1911 Larkin Co warehouse and made it a prestigious Buffalo commercial address.  Kissling thinks history will repeat itself in North Tonawanda.  He's got the development track record to back that up.

Most recently, Kissling is turning the former National Casket Co building on Virginia Street into a 10-unit loft complex that should be ready in the next few months.  "There are a lot of people anxious to see this building come back to life," said NT Mayor Larry Soos.  "From my perspective, this is our top economic development project and we've got a fairly lengthy list of projects we want to see happen."

Soos is putting a lot of municipal and political muscle behind the Remington project.  His interest is understandable.  Kissling is investing $20 million.  His economic development game plan is to convert the bulk of the 180,000 sq ft building actually a series of four buildings constructed between the late 1800s and 1911 into 81 loft-style apartments.

The 15 Mile Restaurant, named after the famous line from the "Erie Canal" folk song, will be on the first floor and will be operated by the same team that runs the City Grill in downtown Buffalo.  A salon and yoga center have signed on the bottom line for ground floor space. 

Renovation work is under way, with the first phase to be completed by summer.

The building has been renamed "Remington Lofts on the Canal" which stems from the building's past as a Remington Rand Co incubator where the first Univac computer mainframe was developed in the late 1950s.  Decades earlier, more than 100,000 wooden carousel horses were built there.  "There's a romance with the building because of its history and architecture,"  Kissling said.

The roof, which offer stunning views of the Niagara River, will be converted into tenants' gardens and outdoor gathering space.  The lofts will run from 1,000 to 2,000 sq ft.  Rental rates could top out at $2,500 a month - pricey by local standards but not for out-of-towners looking to move to the region.  Out-of-towners are likely to be Kissling's primary market.

"All I'm looking for is 81 people,"  Kissling said.  "That's not much.  We already have a deep list of interested tenants.  I think once people see the finished product, their first response will be 'Where do I sign?"

James Sullivan, Lumber City Development Corporation director, said Kissling's efforts are a huge boost for North Tonawanda's plan to position itself a central development location, nestled between Niagara Falls and Buffalo.  "This is definitely what I would call a 'connector' project," Sullivan said.  "It blazes a new path."

Kissling, for his part, said the Remington project will create economic development ripples in North Tonawanda.  His project will likely convince others to invest in a part of the region that has been overlooked or taken for granted.

"Just look around," he said.  "You've got the (Erie) canal right outside your front door. You've got all this history.  I don't know why this (building) was overlooked.  I suspect when we are done, people will be looking at this are in a different light."