Ciminelli Real Estate Corporation’s $122 million vision for the Women & Children’s Hospital site promises to bring new energy to the Elmwood Village neighborhood. Its QueensLight proposal is a mix of uses heretofore unseen in a local real estate development. Residential, educational, retail, hospitality, recreation, and public spaces will be integrated into a 7.89-acre urban infill site utilizing both new construction and preservation.
Ciminelli has put together a comprehensive team to work on the redevelopment project including CannonDesign, LPCiminelli, M/E Engineering, Charles Gordon Architecture, Allpro Parking, The Martin Group, and Barbara A. Campagna/Architecture and Planning. Partners include Tapestry Charter School, EduKids, Delaware Soccer Club, InnVest Lodging Services, Resource Art, and S(Park)! Buffalo.
Plans call for 249 units of residential in the existing Variety Tower, new townhouses fronting the tower along Bryant Street, and in new construction along Hodge, and at the corner of Elmwood and Bryant. Residential units will be a mix of rentals and condominium/townhomes. Tapestry Charter School is taking space in the project primarily in the Alfiero building along Bryant Street and at the base of Variety Tower. Also along Bryant, InnVest is planning a boutique hotel with approximately 72 rooms in the three-story, circa-1917-27 Annex building.
That is not all. There is also an EduKids child care center along Hodge, a soccer park and wellness center on W. Utica Street that includes an indoor soccer field, 374 new underground parking spaces, and public plazas and green connectors to tie the uses together.
President and CEO Paul F. Ciminelli is rightfully excited about the bold project and its components.
“The sum is greater than any of its single parts,” says Ciminelli. “Interestingly, it’s like a tapestry of sorts; everything weaves together to make a more beautiful project. We really are excited about all of it.”
CannonDesign shares Ciminelli’s excitement.
“We’re extremely proud and excited to be connected to this project,” says Michael Tunkey, Principal at CannonDesign. “While CannonDesign has grown to have global reach, our firm started in this area nearly a century ago. Our roots and our people live in this city and in its neighborhoods. We are invested in Buffalo on numerous levels and excited for its future. To be able to contribute to the city, and specifically Elmwood Avenue, one of the most livable, dynamic urban villages in the country, is remarkably rewarding for our team. We are confident this project will build on Elmwood’s rich heritage and culture and add further diversity and vibrancy to the site.”
“We are thrilled to have a global firm like CannonDesign on our team,” says Ciminelli. “They bring so much creativity and intellectual capital to a project like this, and their team has been amazing to work with.”
Construction is expected to being in the third quarter of 2017 and be done in four phases, wrapping up in mid-2019. The first phase will be focused along Bryant Street including the five-story mixed-use building at Elmwood and Bryant, the boutique hotel, and the charter school. There is a significant amount of work to do before the first shovels hit the ground however.
“We will be reaching out to the surrounding community during the course of the project,” says Ciminelli. “We always engage stakeholders for our projects; that’s our process. It is a conceptual design, and we will continue to develop and refine it. It’s a fluid process.”
The project will also undergo an environmental review, the planning team will further develop the design, a purchase agreement with Kaleida Health will be negotiated, and entitlements from the City of Buffalo will be obtained.
The site’s reuse has been in the works since 2012 and Kaleida Health formed a project advisory committee of area stakeholders to help guide the effort. Four firms responded to a Request for Proposals that was issued late last year. Kaleida Health determined that the Ciminelli team’s vision, strategy, and experience were the right fit for the high-profile site.
“The biggest challenge is the aspirations our team has set for itself,” says Tunkey. “Elmwood Village and the City of Buffalo deserve incredible, transformative results from this project and we’re going to deliver. This project has so much potential and we need to engage as many creative, positive voices to help make the project truly exceptional. We’re going to do that, and we’ve already started by including perspectives from the worlds of art, sports, education, hospitality, sustainability and more. We’re excited about meeting this challenge.”
One of the stand-out features of the proposal is the public art component.
The project team is collaborating with Anna Kaplan, Director of BT&C Gallery and representative of Resource: Art, a local art gallery collective, as well as Aaron Ott, Public Art Curator with the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, to create a public arts program for the entire site. QueensLight is being envisioned as a “Buffalo Arts District”.
While Ciminelli Real Estate Corporation has a substantial real estate portfolio throughout Erie County and in Florida, its recent projects have been Buffalo-focused. That list includes Bethune Lofts, The Sinclair, Conventus, the upcoming residential conversion of 1360 Niagara Street, a potential second medical office building on the Medical Campus, a mixed-use project at 201 Ellicott Street that is to include a grocery store, a residential project in Waterfront Village, and a mixed-use development on Elmwood and Bidwell Parkway. It is also partnering with LPCiminelli on the Highland Park development.
“All of our projects are important to us, and each has its own merits,” says Ciminelli. “Yet this is a very significant project for us.”
Tunkey agrees on the importance of the project: “We love this city. We love Elmwood. We are thrilled to be taking on this project. We see it as part of our firm’s legacy and we’re committed to doing everything we can to make it a success.”
Adds Ciminelli, “There has been a national trend of the re-urbanization of cities, and Buffalo is now becoming a part of the trend. It’s an exciting time for our community, and we couldn’t be more proud to be participating in its renaissance.”
Get Connected: Ciminelli Real Estate, 716.631.8000