The Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority (BMHA) has voted to negotiate with M&T Bank for a $3.5 million bridge loan to ensure that the demolition of Kensington Heights can continue through the winter and within EPA guidelines. Two of the six buildings have already been demolished and the loan from M&T would supplement the remaining $3.3 million in state funds to demolish the remaining buildings, which are filled with asbestos.
Demolition of the complex began in May and two of the towers
have already come down and the soil around them has been remediated. The
remaining buildings await demolition and are wrapped in double-ply polyurethane
to contain all the asbestos materials.
The $3.3 million remains from a $5 million New York State Dormitory Authority grant to conduct the work. Under the EPA's plan, an additional $5 million to $10 million will be needed to complete the project and demolish the other four buildings.
Kensington Towers was built in 1958 and has been vacant
since 1980. It was built as a federal and state development with sixty-seven
units per building and some common area space. Many parallels can be drawn
between the development and the failure of the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex in
St. Louis. Built in a similar fashion, Pruitt-Igoe was erected in 1954 as an
urban renewal and slum clearance project. Although it was initially successful,
the development failed for a number of reasons and was demolished in in the
mid-1970s.
I realize that 8:00a - 4:00p may be demolition hours, and hence they want to prevent people from getting injured. But, wouldn't it make sense to have a security patrol specifically from 4p-8a for every other concern (drug use, violence, etc.)?? Why leave it unsecured (sans fence) during the night hours? I plead ignorance on this one, and haven't had time to fully think it through, to be truthful!