Work is underway on the next big construction project on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The wreckers are chewing up the City-owned Ellicott Goodrich Garage to prepare for construction of a replacement ramp twice as large.
The City of Buffalo and the BNMC, Inc. have entered into a lease agreement permitting the construction of the 1,825 car ramp. The current facility holds 900 cars.
The cash flow generated from the operation of the parking ramp will be committed to community benefits. Over the first 30 years, the cash flow is projected to equal approximately $15 million. BNMC, Inc. will determine the uses funded by 40 percent of the cash flow and the City of Buffalo will determine the uses funded by another 40 percent. The community will directly determine the uses for 20 percent of the cash flow (or $3 million) to benefit neighborhoods within one mile of the medical campus.
This will be the second large parking ramp built on the growing campus in recent years. A $34 million facility brought 1,800 much needed parking space to the corner of Michigan Avenue and High Street in 2002. That nine-story ramp was a joint-venture between Kaleida Health, University at Buffalo and Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
Photos by RaChaCha