Elmwood/Bryant KFC Site Purchased

Thank god this building doesn't look like some kind of mutation between a suburban house, a downtown building, and a waterfront townhouse. What were they thinking at 504 Elmwood? At least this building doesn't look ridicules and out of place. Plus, anything will be better than KFC. Sweet!

Great project, Johnson has balls, the other loft units he built down the street are still vacant.

Unfortunately, people can not afford 1500/month in rent for this area...it is still very ghetto.

Buffalo police and city need to clean up this block to assist local developers. Get the Section 8's off the street. Saw a guy dealing crack outside of Rite Aid on Elm and Bryant today, lunch time....who wants to pay this kid of money in rent to look out their window at this filth?

Place is disgusting...

BuffaloObesity said: "who wants to pay this kid of money in rent to look out their window at this filth?
Place is disgusting..."

Dude,
I think the people laying out 300 k plus for their homes would disagree with you.
BTW: instead of complaining get your ass of the couch and grab a broom.

LS

Yeah there is plenty of garbage on all of elmwood but I think that has more to do with bums being attracted there because of the ammount of gullible urban tourists willing to part with spare change. Like LS said if you want to buy anything within .5 mile east or west of Elmwood you will pay through the nose.

This intersection has problems because of its urban design, or lack there of. The large expanse of parking lots creates a space in limbo of ownership. The same goes with the Latina's site.

Sure the properties are 'owned' be someone but the dislocation of the business from the pedestrian street activity means there is no supervision. Business owners all along Elmwood probably all deal with the same types of people who come in and look for a quick buck. The difference is they take the time and self police their stores. They have to because people will not go into their stores if they have to deal with someone who makes them feel unsafe.

These large parking lots create a gap in that self policing because the businesses are set so far back they can basically turn a blind eye to whatever happen 'out by the street.' They assume that they will make enough money by people driving and therefore avoiding the problems.

This same problem can be found anywhere there are parking lots on commercial streets. Where do the bums hang out on Allen... at the parking lots. Where do they hang out on Elmwood. Just Pizza Parking lot, Rite Aid, Sunoco (less so now that they redesigned their building)

This is different then areas like Globe Market which have activities and a sense of ownership over their frontage. Parking lots are business after-thoughts and except for sweeping them once a week they could often care less what happens along their edges.

Down with KFC and up with "anything better"!!!
Sounds good to me

Plus this "anything better" is a really nice building and addition to elmwood.

This is great! That corner needed a face life so badly-and I wouldn't be surprised if the apts go quickly-Elmwood is a hot spot for living, especially now that it is expanding and becoming better than ever!
(Now if we could only fix up that Rite Aid...)

1. I really like the building and I'm glad it's going up.
2. Rite Aid AND Sunoco are havens for the bums asking for change - I've been approached several times while pumping gas. Annoying.
3. The western stretch of Elmwood between Bryant and Utica has really taken some hits - the old sweet tooth is still vacant, there are two old restaurants empty, and that weird jewelry store is empty now, too. I hope this new build can bring some more life to that stretch.

@BuffaloObesity - you sound like a typical skittish suburbanite -- scared of the city, thinking that every time a couple of black guys shake hands on the street, there's a crack deal going down. Honestly, how can you know there was a guy dealing CRACK outside of the rite aid? Did you see it?

The neighborhood is getting better. This announcement is evidence of that. They must have faith in the area, or they wouldn't be committing this kind of money to the project. Kitty cornered across the street is the new Wine Thief and Tabree (making four high-end successful restaurants in a two block stretch with Toro, Nektar, and LaMetro)...

It's funny how you blame the "broke hippi liberals" in one of your other posts for getting in the way of development (what the hell are you talking about, anyway??), yet EVERY SINGLE ONE of your posts is negative on the city: "our little ****hole city," etc. Why don't you lighten up a little? If every developer had your attitude, no projects would ever get done...

{deleted- off topic}

What was that multi unit worth 10 years ago? What is it worth now? Nuf said.

Even the good parts of the city cant be 100% pristine. Theyd be a lot less interesting if they were. No matter how well off and gentrified EV is you will still have a bad element lingering around. Do you think Manhattan is exempt from panhandlers, begging, etc? TheReal... is right about parking lots being part of the problem. If you have storefronts right up to the sidewalk you put more eyes on sidewalk activity making it more safe. These "modern" buildings were build away from the sidewalk creating space that feels much less safe.

You go Buffalo Obesity....There's a lot of trash that needs to be swept off the EV area. As a small time investor and landlord in the area my experiences have really soured me on all of the public assistance and so called entitlements that a slice of our local population have made a permanent way of life. No more Section 8 without drug, alcohol and tobacco screening. I inherited a few of these fine folks along with the properties we chose to invest in. They always seem to have money to get drunk, smoke pot and cigarettes and pay their cell phone bills. Paying their $50 portion of the rent however was always a problem. They brought my buildings down along with the entire neighborhood. Not my problem anymore thank goodness.
Buffalo Police please start arresting the panhandlers. Put a Salvation Army collection point up at places like the Co-op, Wilson Farms etc. for the good people to donate at. Also start arresting the Bottle pickers when they are trespassing. I've been broken into 3 times in the last year and a half and have wised up to their casing of properties under the guise of "innocent bottle picking". Down off my soapbox.
Nice looking project. Can't believe it'll pay off though. There's already too much commercial space open and too many high end rental space planned. Good luck.

Don't jump to conclusions NORPARK. FYI, I've always invested in properties with upside potential, worked my ass off and left every neighborhood much better than I found it. Which is exactly what I have already done in the EV. 3 properties in the last 2 years and one just underway for this year. I've invested over $400,000. of my hard earned cash, worked 7 days a week and made the EV a nicer place to be. What have you done? No more Govt checks for me!

wow...this is quite the pissing contest. Good stuff guys.

As for this area, I was essentially sitting down to make an offer on a house down the street from the KFC by Ashland and at the last moment decided that the neighborhood just wasn't where I wanted to invest and raise a family. Maybe that makes me a "hippie liberal" or maybe it shows that I have some deep underlying prejudice, but I just didn't like the feeling I got when I walked the streets and ate on the patio of Trattoria Aroma. Either way, I think this section of Elmwood is getting better thanks to Tabree and Wine Thief and the continued success of Nectar and the other local businesses.

I really hope the KFC deal happens, and I wish Buffalo Police would increase patrols of this area. Good luck to anyone who is adding value to this block and I'll probably be wishing I bought that house in a few years.

Anything other than that KFC shack on that corner is a step in the right direction for that block. I live a block away and while there are some parts of the neighborhood that obviously need some work this is exciting for me. It starts one building at a time, if businesses like the wine theif, toro, mode, nektar, thirsty buffalo etc. continue to do well and these new projects continue to come in on these blocks and be successfull the progress will spread to the areas that need it now. Kuni's reopened, 'the place' is doing well and those are a block off elmwood, it is starting to trickle into those back neighborhoods and down towards the western part of elmwood. It will always be a slow pace for progress, especially in Buffalo, especially with the economy. But these are all good signs for the area.
As for Section 8, not only is it the landlord's choice whether to accept that form of payment, but the process for getting onto that program is relatively extensive. I'm a social worker here in Buffalo and the average waiting period is usually at least 3 years (and there definitely are drug/alcohol screenings). As for Public Assistance, cash aid is only given out for 60 months per individual or family. once that time is up no one in that household is eligible for cash aid through PA agian. It becomes vouchered for rent and heating assistance through programs like SaefteyNet. The integrity of those neighborhoods is improving, but you cant have your cake and eat it too. For so many years people left the city. Now people are beginning to move back in and it's inevitably going to push our large poor population up against those returning to the inner city. That's not only in Buffalo, that's almost every city. To be quite honest i see a lot of the people i serve at my job around my neighborhood... and i feel quite comfortable around them, even if they are on Section 8