First Home Sold at St. Stanislaus Gardens

Mr. McHugh, work with the church closer. They have resources to pour millions into the church facade, roof, interior, lighting, etc... They have an annual Dyngus Day party making tons of money and bringing thousands into the neighborhood. Since this project is using St. Stan's name, shouldn't they helping subsidize the project and recruit buyers? If there is no neighborhood what is their future.

"I had the home sold nine times, but banks wouldn't touch it," explained McHugh. "People were interested; they just couldn't get a mortgage. It took seven months to close the sale with the buyer and we had to use a California lender. Appraisals were an issue. Every home in the neighborhood is 100 years old."

They used to call that "Redlining"

The first photo looks like every other house and yard you'll see in the Town of Tonawanda. Yuk!!!! No wonder these are hard to sell. Not everyone wants to live in a plastic suburban house in the city. If we wanted a suburban lifestyle, we'll go to the burbs. If we wanted an urban lifestyle, we'll move anyplace BUT in these east side plastic homes.

The reason why the streets around there have too many vacant lots is because some of the people around there tend to burn the houses down, or the one next to the one they burn down also catches fire. I'll bet the lender made sure there was enough fire insurance on the deal to cover their losses. I won't pay anything to live there. Extremely dangerous at nights and in summers. $100,000 is way out of proportion to anything else around there, and hardly what I'd call affordable housing in the city.

I have to say I'm surprised at the amount of buyer interest in this project. I would be curious to know some of the statistics (ie % of prospective buyers from the area, how credit worthy they were, etc). Don't get me wrong, I think it is great there is interest in repopulating areas of the City that are struggling but I find it difficult to see the marketability of the area. Yes, they are new homes but it is a risk to live/invest there.

I disagree with the plastic house / suburbs comment. Personally, I don't find these attractive either but I do find them to be reasonable. These are not subsidized so they must be built considering reasonable costs. I think it is important to build up the density of the area by building more affordable homes - then you can build higher cost buildings when demand (and sales price) increase. True, these designs do little to inspire (and the garages seem to act as focal points) but not every house needs to be able to be on a tour of homes...

I would'nt live there because it's so desolate- (Devoid of inhabitants; deserted: 'streets which were usually so thronged now grown desolate') Untill an overall development plan is in place for the East Side that includes: RE-Developing the Commercial Districts- NEW INFILL BUIDLINGS FOR RETAIL, OFFICES, RESIDENTIAL, better street lighting, new sidewalks, streets, and infill the residential streets with proper URBAN FRIENDLY designs. How hard is it to get NON-PLASTIC housing built in this city? Seems to be very discouraging to see only the same looking styles be built while other cities have and are still creating a better mix of styles: BROWNSTONES, BRICK or STONE EXTERIORS, Built to the Sidewalk, Parking garages either put in the REAR or under the first floor to make room for FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS.

The design could use improvements. But what should not be overlooked is the reason for the purchase of the house --barrier free entrance. The older neighborhoods in Buffalo still offer the opportunity for walkable, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. As baby boomers age, these factors will start to come in play. Hopefully, contractors will start seeing this as an opportunity, and take advantage of housing designs that not only accommodate aging baby boomers, but start acommodating the aesthetics of the neighborhood.

McHugh should be commended for taking the first step, hopefully, in the future, he might start taking advantage of more neighborhood appropriate designs, ie the Extreme Makeover design style that accommodated the historic neighborhood fabric, with up-to-date affordable, green energy features.

I guess it says something when the garage is literally 50% of the structure. Why not just put the house on top of the garage and save some space.

And if this neighborhood is cosidered poor, WHY have a garages fit for two cars? If I were 'low income' I would still be taking the bus as it's CHEAPER. Maby this is why so many in this are are poor? Putting too much money into a car they don't need.

its all about the "Bank appraisal". Every house around here sells for 5K to ?. NO comparable sales makes this a hard sell to a lender. If I told you to buy a stock today for $25 a share and told you in 6 months it would be worth $15 a share would you but it? Until many of these are built here it will be VERY difficult to get a lender to hold a mortgage. I would guess the home owners insurance here is VERY high as well.

St. Stanislaus has been involved in housing in the neighborhood. Down the street on John Paul Court the church build homes in the 1990's that sold from 80K all the way up to the mid $100's. All the homes have been sold. There is also infill housing on William St and Peckham Street in the area of the church. They also build a senior living facility, Msgr. Adamski Village at Fillmore and William St. Please get your facts staright. The homes by McHugh have no basements. That is a major minus for folks looking to buy newly constructed homes. Like an earlier poster stated, what happened to the financing promise from M&T??

I can guarantee you that the St Stans parish has absolutely zero money to subsidize any housing and can barely pay its' day to day expenses. The parish did its' part to renovate the campus and provide an anchor. That's all she wrote and there ain't no more, and that is a fact.

The city needs to tear down the hundreds of dilapidated structures in the area, including those directly across the street on Fillmore Avenue.

To expect Banks to take the risk of holding a mortgage in that area is wishful thinking.

In as much as I understand the lofty goals and expectations of this project, I still don't get it. Where one chooses to live is extremely important. You have to live with your neighbors: send your kids to the local school, shop with them, and just generally share the same space. I wouldn't get a mortgage for a house that costs 5 times more than the surrounding stock. And, I think the model pictured couldn't be more dreadful.