Chaintreuil, Jensen, Stark Architects, a Buffalo-based architecture firm, is renovating an historic Larkin District building for its future headquarters. The company is spending $1 million to rehab the Kamman Building at 755 Seneca Street, one block from the Larkin at Exchange office complex. The four-story brick and Medina sandstone building has approximately 13,000 sq.ft. of space. It was designed by architect F.W. Caulkins and was completed in 1878.
Chaintreuil, Jensen, Stark is buying into the neighborhood's potential. The firm is currently in leased space on South Park Avenue.
CityView Development and Larkin Development Group have been busy buying properties in the Seneca and Exchange street area after rehabbing the Larkin at Exchange Building and constructing an adjacent parking ramp. Additional new construction and renovation projects creating office, retail and residential space are planned for the area.
"We were looking to buy a building and wanted to find a location that would be good for the firm and good for the city," said Robert Stark AIA, one of the company's Principals, in a previous interview.
In December, First Niagara Financial Group announced a significant investment in its new headquarters neighborhood. Over $2 million will be spent on streetscape improvements, redevelopment of a long vacant building into commercial space and rental apartments, and a financial assistance program that will underwrite residents' and small-business owners' remodeling and renovation projects in the neighborhood.
The 700 block of Seneca Street will see streetscape improvements later this year. The Larkin District Streetscape Improvement project will include new streets, sidewalks, bike lanes, curbs, landscaping, lighting, benches, bus shelters and crosswalks over a half-mile stretch of Seneca Street between Fillmore Avenue and Larkin Street.
755 Seneca was originally a rooming house with ground floor retail, apartments on the second and third floors and fourth floor attic space. In the recent past, there was a pharmacy on the ground floor and a medical office on the second. The building has been vacant for over ten years according to Stark.
Chaintreuil, Jensen, Stark's employees will occupy the top floor and possibly half of the third. The balance of the space is available for lease. Floors are approximately 3,000 sq.ft. each.
Get connected: Chaintreuil, Jensen, Stark, 716.856.6448
Wonderful news that the building will be saved and restored but I am troubled by the empty lots on both sides of the building. Both sides of the building are really begging for 4 story buildings to continue the streetscape (though adjacent buildings will block the light from those windows.
Would be nice if BuffaloRising posted the master plan for the future of the Larkin District.
One last thought, knowing that the Larkin District does connect two major north-south corridors: Jefferson to the Life Sciences and Fillmore to Humboldt Park and Central Terminal. Are there any visionaries thinking of what advancements in the Larkin District have for these corridors?!! Will the Larkin benefit the Life Sciences? Will the Larkin benefit Humboldt Park and the Central Terminal?