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March 9, 2009 3:15 PM
Comments: 24
The developer and the investment team behind the Alling & Cory conversion project are committed to providing a state of the art student housing facility that will be eco-friendly. Its proximity to Erie Community College's city campus and availability to other area colleges and universities is expected to provide a market for the planned 287 student facility.
In Western New York, over 30,000 students attend local colleges and universities and UB plans on expanding its enrollment by an additional 30 percent by the year 2020. Erie Community College, Buffalo State College and The University at Buffalo have expressed the need for additional student housing.
The Alling & Cory building at 136 N. Division Street is two blocks from ECC and the metropolitan transportation center where the Grant Street and Elmwood Avenue bus routes to Buffalo State College originate. It is four blocks from light rail providing access to Canisius, Medaille and UB.
Creating a downtown education and public safety campus around ECC has been a key goal of the Queen City Hub plan as a way to bring increased activity downtown and help connect the heart of the city to the east side.
Plans call for 88 apartment units housing 287 students. Three unit types will be offered for the fall semester 2010-2011.
4 person - shared two bedroom - fully furnished with kitchen, living, dining and two bathrooms - $500.00/month per student includes all utilities, internet and cable.
4 person - single bedrooms - fully furnished with kitchen, living, dining and two bathrooms - $615.00/month, per student includes all utilities, internet and cable.
1 person - studio single - fully furnished with kitchen, living, dining and bathroom - $685.00/month, per student includes all utilities, internet and cable.
An activity center will serves as a gathering place and include a lounge, video room and pool room. A deli, laundry facilities, and general store are also planned.
The design and development team is led by principal investor and architect Jake Schneider. R&P Oakhill, well versed in the construction of student housing facilities, is construction manager.
Since the rehab is expected to take advantage of Federal Historic Tax Credits, there are restrictions on the changes that can be made to the building's exterior. "The State Historic Preservation Office will review the project in an advisory role," says Nick Kraus, a preservation tax credit consultant. "The existing fenestration would likely need to be retained unless there is evidence showing a previous condition such as larger windows."
"There's really not a lot we can do to the entire building," says Schneider. "The window restoration has to be historically preserved all around, but especially on the entrance elevation on N. Division, and all of Elm. Those especially have to be restored to the historic date of significance which is 1926."
Ground breaking is scheduled for June with occupancy targeted for August of 2010.
Get connected: Jake Schneider, 716.923.7000
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HUNT Commercial Real Estate is pleased to announce the sale of 136 North Division Street in Buffalo, N.Y., a deal brokered by HUNT's downtown specialist Chris Malachowski, between AC Eagle LLC to AC Lofts LLC. Developer Jake Schneider will convert the ... Read More
Two projects along Michigan Avenue on the east side of downtown started work in recent days. Demolition crews began tearing down a nondescript addition to the Alling & Cory warehouse on N. Division Street between Michigan Avenue and Elm Stree... Read More
The Alling & Cory conversion project has a new name, Lofts at 136; a retailer, Wilson Farms; and by the fall 2010 semester, its first tenants. Workers are busy turning the six-story former warehouse into 88 loft-like apartments geared to... Read More
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March 9, 2009 3:16 PM
AAAAAAAAaaaaaaannnnnnddddd GO! they should build it to the side walk...are those the windows they are gonna use?...i hope those are oak trees...red felt for the pool table!?!? this project should be stopped! ;) great project...can't wait!
March 9, 2009 4:05 PM
Ive said it before and Ill say it again: If you are a student at an are college why would you not rent one of the many flats in close proximity to school. I dont get this supposed shortage of student housing. 2grand a month for a 2 bdrm? Jeesh! You could get a nice place off campus for 600 to 700 per month and split that two or three ways. You could pay as little as 200 per month without having to share a bedroom. You will have much more fun living in the Buff State or UB south neighborhoods in my opinion as well.
March 9, 2009 4:36 PM
There aren't many flats in the proximity of ECC. Here you can walk to class.
Other attractions: there's no need to set up utilities. Also, I expect the management will assign roommates; no need to find your own.
As for students from other colleges choosing this place: It's one big dormitory, presumably with fewer restrictions. That appeals to some. Matter of fact, better to house them here in relative isolation than down the street from your house or mine. Students are noisy.
But having lived in dorms and apartments back in the day, I'd take an apartment, too. Live off Elmwood.
March 9, 2009 7:24 PM
Agreed. 500 a month per student for shared bedrooms? I'm living in Brooklyn right now and if you shop around 500 a month can get you a nice 4 bedroom... it works if you're a student coming to live in the city, or if you've got a scholarship or grant that takes care of that. Plus, living downtown is excellent.
I guess it's understandable, but for the economically unstable (a fair amount of college students), it might be better to go elsewhere.
Still, looks cool, and I'm glad the building is being used. :)
March 10, 2009 12:19 AM
Kimon- Where in Brooklyn can you get a 4 bedroom apartment for $500/month?
March 10, 2009 3:02 AM
Bed-Stuy mostly, but there's a few in Bushwick if you do a good amount of searching. They're elsewhere too, I'm sure, I just haven't looked there.
March 10, 2009 12:04 AM
iluvpitbulls- Let the market determine where students live and in what type of housing. Some students appreciate a decent flat of Main Street or Elmwood Avenue, while others would like the full service of a larger facility such as this. The more lifestyle options available to our region's college students, the more competitive it makes us
WCP- Great article. However, I believe WNY has closer to 75,000+ college students. UB alone has just reached 30,000.
March 10, 2009 5:54 AM
Dont get me wrong, Im all in favor of this and any other project which brings downtown buildings back to life. If people want to live there than so be it. I just dont see the appeal of living there over living in one of our college neighborhoods.
I also dont understand why politicians and developers treat want to isolate college students as if they were toxic waste. People want to herd them into closed communities as if they would damage society if they were living among the rest of us. One built student housing complex is in a former low income housing project. Another proposed project is at the old Pratt-Lambert factory which was at one time proposed to be used to house sex criminals!
I understand college kids can be rowdy but not all live the frat lifestyle. Many spend most of their time studying, working part time, voluntering, and patronizing the arts. They make places like Elmwood and UB south interesting.
March 9, 2009 7:56 PM
Nice floorplans but the historic credits really hurt the exterior of the project from an outside looking in perspective.
Of course, a good bunch of the view looks out to housing projects...so I guess that helps on the inside looking out. :)
March 9, 2009 10:18 PM
yeah, i have to be honest... the price is a little high. As a full time college student, i barely get enough student loans to pay my rent and i pay much less than these apartments. It is good that the utilities are included because its a great selling point. Many students now opt to pay rent plus utilities because it seems cheaper when it really doesn't make much difference.
Great Project and best of luck!!!!!!!!
March 9, 2009 11:18 PM
The 'interior view' seems misleading as it has all those windows while the exterior views show most of the windows high up or much smaller. Not a big quibble but if the developers want those kinds of visuals, they should follow through in their execution. The money is higher than many parents would like but guess what? That's a discount on the going rate for new buildouts. I wish this project and Alling&Cory all the best!
March 9, 2009 11:35 PM
thought the same thing to myself but if you look closely it kind of looks like there are windows in this configuration next to the stair shaft.
March 10, 2009 12:16 AM
Great project! Jake Schneider is at it again with another wonderful reuse development downtown. Hopefully we can encourage great urban design by tying the building to the street with transparent street-level windows, multiple access points on all sides of the building and ground-level retail (small cafe, deli, etc.) that is accessible to the street and not enclosed within the interior. Jane Jacobs 'eyes on the street' observation holds true in many ways by fostering public safety in a relatively desolate area of downtown in need of active street life and ground level vitality.
Minimal parking would be an added plus by encouraging students to take advantage of transit and the abundance of on-street parking options in that area of downtown, thus encouraging street vitality through increased pedestrian volumes. If students have their own off-street parking spaces enclosed within the property, they are largely removed from the sidewalks around them.
Again, great job Jake.
March 10, 2009 3:03 AM
P.S. that's 500 per person, not 500 total.
March 10, 2009 3:59 AM
Traditionally, community college kids are commuters who work part time and live at home. And, they usually do not receive large grants or scholarships. But, they are very good at living on a tight budget generated by the jobs they do have. When that is the case, I can see that this would definitely beat living at home with the parents. It is doable at minimum wage working 20-25 hours per week.
March 10, 2009 3:24 PM
I really dont think this is doable on 20- 25 hours a week... Unless their parents are paying the phone bill, car insurance and other small bills.
March 10, 2009 12:33 PM
I think what you are seeing here is the projected evolution of ECC. Currently, ECC is a commuter college. However, the state has several two year schools that offer a "4 year experience" with a 2 year degree.
I knew kids who went to Canton Tech in the 90s for the electrical engineering program. 1 transferred to RIT and the other took a job with the phone company down south. When visiting them, the school had all of the makings of a 4 year school minus the junior and senior class.
Eventually, I think you will see a "Buffalo City College" in downtown Buffalo and the consolidation of the 3 campuses.
March 10, 2009 3:45 PM
$685/mo. to live on the east side? What a deal! Don't tell me it's not the east side. It is.
March 10, 2009 4:22 PM
It's on the west side of Michigan Avenue. How's that?
March 11, 2009 9:19 AM
Fine. I agree that Michigan is the border. It is Down Town living. That being said...what a deal!
March 10, 2009 5:10 PM
I just looked again at the rental rates.
4 people splitting $2460 are going to find a much better deal somewhere else.
March 10, 2009 8:13 PM
oh my goodness perhaps another abandoned building would be a better plan . Another beautiful project for Jake Schneider.Thank you Jake
March 11, 2009 1:48 PM
There are proposed plans for a market/cafe/deli for students, that would also be open to the public, and there will be on-site parking for students. ECC rents parking space from surrounding lots, so the proximity of parking to the building is extremely convenient, if the provided lot is not enough.
October 13, 2009 7:56 PM
I'D LIKE TO SEE HOW THE CITY ALLOWS A BEDROOM TO HAVE NO WINDOWS, TAKE IT FROM ONE WHO HAS NOT RENTED SPACE BECAUSE ROOMS IN THE CENTER OF AN APARTMENT HAVE HAD NO WINDOWS. BOTH AIR AND LIGHT ARE REQUIRED AND WOULD BE SITED FOR LAWS THAT HAVE BEEN IN AFFECT SINCE BEFORE THE 20TH CENTARY.