The good folks at Broadway Fillmore Alive! are on a quest to find a new owner or use for the Eckhardt Building at 950 Broadway. Reuse of the art-deco beauty could become an anchor for further economic development in the neighborhood. Located at the northwest corner of Broadway and Fillmore, the three-story, 42,000 sq.ft. building has been vacant since 2004 when the New York State Department of Labor and 78 Restoration Corporation, a neighborhood based education and job training program, closed their offices.
Back in November, Mike Miller posted in Buffalo Rising regarding the potential redevelopment of 950 Broadway in a piece entitled Dear Pottery Barn.
That post generated plenty of comments about the east side and its unlimited potential, eventually leading to the formation of Broadway Fillmore Alive! The group’s mission is to work together with community groups, businesses, residents, churches and other organizations to help promote, preserve and revitalize the Broadway-Fillmore area. Reuse of 950 Broadway and the former Franczyk Library are high priorities for the group.
Broadway Fillmore Alive! has been in contact with 950 Broadway’s owners, who have graciously accepted their offer to help them find a tenant for this beautiful building. Surprisingly, the property has been owned by the same family since the 1880’s. Marketing has started at the local and national levels for a buyer or tenant.
The building has quite a history and loads of potential.
Long-time Broadway merchant John H. Eckhardt commissioned the famed Buffalo architectural firm of Lawrence Bley and Duane Lyman (Saturn Club, 800 West Ferry, 443 Delaware, and Convention Tower) to design a modern structure to house his growing retail business, Eckhardtis Department Store, at the corner of Broadway and Fillmore, in one of Buffalois thriving shopping districts. The Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier has additional detail:
Eckhardtis/Kobackeris Department Store is architecturally significant as an excellent example of a largely-intact, early Art Moderne commercial building. Designed by local firm Bley & Lyman for John H. Eckhardt, this sleek building is one of the most significant early Modern buildings surviving in Buffalo. A similar style department store building, the W. T. Grant department store (1939), once stood at Main and Huron Streets in downtown Buffalo (demolished 1980). The buildingis curved faAade stands out for its design and materials, which include granite, light cream terra cotta and stainless steel. Eckhardt had operated a store at the principal commercial intersection of the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood since the 1880is. Former tenants of the building include Kobackeris and Sears department stores.
The community rightfully considers reuse of this building as critical to the success of the neighborhood. Across the street, Holling Place developer Era Epstein is renovating the four-story building at 937 Broadway into 40 moderate income apartments and first floor retail.
Like the Central Terminal, the Eckhardt Building could play an important role in shaping the future direction of the neighborhood. It has the potential to catalyze additional investment in the area, foster positive change and encourage the existing positive energy in the neighborhood. This truly historic building deserves to continue its legacy as an important part of the everyday fabric of life in the Broadway Fillmore district.
Get Connected: Dean Becker has the listing: 716.627.3356.
Historic Photo by Robert Sienkiewicz
Slideshow Photos by Derek Punaro