Greenleaf & Co. is seeking Common Council approval tomorrow to be designated developer of the City-owned Summit Bosche Building at 918 Main Street. The historic four-story property with a growing hole in its roof would be redeveloped along with a Greenleaf-owned building at 916 Main Street. First floor commercial space and thirteen market rate apartments are planned.
Reuse of 918 Main in the Allentown Historic Preservation District has been a neighborhood goal for years. In 2004, the City applied to the Buffalo Preservation Board for approval to demolish the building but was turned down. A hole in the roof has steadily grown and many feared the building would collapse due to neglect or fall under an emergency demolition.
The four-story, Richardsonian Romanesque masonry building is located next to the Red Jacket Apartments, south of Allen Street. It is a former carriage factory built in the 1880's and designed by Cyrus K. Porter, a well-known Buffalo architect.
The path to reuse was assisted last fall when City received grant funding through the Restore New York program to stabilize and restore the building's façade.
Greenleaf purchased the three-story building at 916 Main in November 2008. The company's $9 million reuse plan for the buildings is being developed by architecture and planning firm Carmina Wood Morris. A mix of conventional financing and state and federal tax credits will be utilized.
Many of Greenleaf's current 350 apartments are in renovated buildings where the original character is retained and kitchens, bathrooms and mechanical systems are upgraded. The firm's properties are concentrated in the Buffalo State, Linwood, Elmwood Village, Delaware Park and North Buffalo areas.
Get Connected: Greenleaf Real Estate, 716.885.8538
How did Greenleaf find out this building is city owned? When I look at Buffalo's listing of public properties for sale or listing of city owned properties on the internet, I don't see anything as cool as this building.