At a May 2025 meeting of the Buffalo Common Council Committee on Claims, Assistant Corporation Counsel John Heffron urged the committee to recommend that the city enter into an assignment and conveyance agreement with Jamal Genesee LLC that would transfer liability and long-term maintenance obligations for two pedestrian bridges connected to the Hyatt hotel.

Heffron told the committee the two bridge agreements were originally created in the late 1980s or early 1990s for 35-year terms, funded in part by the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency and the city. He said one of those agreements has already expired and the other is nearing its 35-year term. Heffron also said there is an outstanding lawsuit that the Jamal Group inherited from a prior owner, the Paul Snyder family, and that a court had found the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency and/or the City of Buffalo had not maintained the bridges as the original agreements required.

The assignment and conveyance agreement presented would have Jamal Genesee LLC assume "all liabilities past, present, and future" related to the bridges. According to Heffron, the obligations would be secured by indemnity, insurance and, importantly, by attaching the obligations to the Hyatt building to ensure they survive changes in ownership.

Heffron said the terms were heavily negotiated over time and that he was comfortable the remaining issues had been resolved. The committee opened D1 for discussion and then recorded a motion to approve the item; the hearing record shows the committee recommended approval following that discussion.

The transcript indicates the item had been previously approved by the Bureau Board and was before the committee for recommendation to the full Common Council. The committee handled the bridge assignment alongside other claims matters and adjourned after considering the docket.