For the second time in recent years, a plan to transform the vacant Alling & Cory warehouse into student housing has surfaced. The developer behind the latest effort has a successful track record of downtown restoration projects. Architect/developer Jake Schneider, is proposing an 88-unit, "student-oriented apartment complex" for the property at Elm and North Division streets. He is currently working on a deal to purchase the site.
The inexhaustible Sharon Linstedt has the story in today's News:
"This is a wonderful building for adaptive reuse, and the space and location are perfect for student residences," Schneider said.
While the $15 million project would not have any formal ties with the adjacent Erie Community College City Campus, Schneider anticipates many of the residents will be ECC students.
"It's no secret there's been an interest on the part of ECC to be able to offer its students an attractive, affordable downtown housing option," he said. "We made a conscious decision not to have a formal relationship with the college on this project. We did consult with them on our designs."
The project would turn the six-story, circa-1910 industrial building into a mix of studio, one-and two-bedroom units with room for 287 residents. Monthly rents would range from $500 per resident for apartments accommodating up to four students, while the cost of a one-person studio would be $685 per month.
The as-yet-unnamed student housing complex is expected to be under construction in June and will ready for occupancy in time for the fall semester of the 2011-2012 school year.
Schneider, along with Dave Resetarits and Tom Kiener, under the name The Warehouse Lofts, LLC, converted the seven-story Seneca Paper warehouse on nearby Ellicott Street into a mix of 30 upscale lofts and commercial space. That project opened in early-2008.
Constructed in 1910 the 1930's, the Alling & Cory complex has been vacant since 2001. Since renamed Xpedx, the commercial paper distributor's local operations were shifted to more efficient space on Allied Drive in Cheektowaga.
The L-shpaed, six-story brick and concrete structure has 102,000 sq.ft. of space. East Amherst-based Regent Developments Inc. of East Amherst proposed a similar conversion project in 2007 but did not proceed (below, Silvestri Architects PC design for the Regent project).
Get connected: Schneider Design Architects, PC, 716.923.7000
Nice project, wish them the best! So was the building constructed in 1910 or in the 1930's? I didnt understand that part.
The building was constructed in 1910.
Good question- City tax records (oftentimes wrong) say 1920. I had 1930's in an earlier post (I don't remember the source), the News says 1910. I'll defer to the News' 1910.