WCPerspective: December 2009 Archives

J. Roger Trettel's 1876 Buehl Block LLC's renovation plans for a Cobblestone District building were approved by the Preservation Board on Thursday.  The two-story property at 49 Illinois Street will be renovated for commercial uses.  The developer purchased the brick structure, located between HSBC Arena and the Avalon Development/Savarino Cos. mixed-use Cobblestone Lofts project on Mississippi Street, in April 2008.

Each floor is approximately 5000

The owners of the proposed Colvin Estates subdivision in North Buffalo are in line for a nice Christmas present: $642,000 in City funds to build a new road through their 23-acre property.  The subdivision will occupy former rail land connecting Starin and Colvin avenues between Taunton Place and St. Lawrence Avenue.

The infrastructure work was reinserted into a City Council-approved capital budget which Mayor Brown can still veto.  Given the unanimous Council vote in favor of the revised capital

A new shingle has been hung at the Hyatt hotel- "For Lease."  Pyramid Brokerage Company has been retained to refill the retail space in Six Fountain Plaza, a three-story building fronting both Main and Huron streets.

Up to 12,000 sq.ft. of space is available on the ground floor and the sunken plaza level.  The building opened in early 1985 2005, one year after the hotel.  Both were constructed by developer Paul N. Snyder.

Built as office and retail space and designed to complement the hotel's atrium, the building was converted to a conference

Downtown has a solid base of 50,000 or so office workers and an expanding downtown residential population, so where is the retail?  If one downtown property owner has his way- retailers wanting to test the waters will have a low-cost opportunity to do so in the near future.  The owner, wishing to remain nameless for now, is floating the idea of creating a retail incubator/mini-bazaar that will fill a void and allow small retailers to build a presence downtown.  It is hoped that successes will move to fill other, larger space downtown.  Reintroducing retail to downtown has

Work is underway to save the historic Summit Building's façade at 918 Main Street in the Allentown Historic Preservation District.  The City applied for and received Restore New York funding to complete internal demolition and façade restoration work.

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

The Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation (ECHDC) board of directors today awarded a $1,771,693 construction monitoring services contract to LiRo Engineers, Inc. for impending Canal Side project-related work.  In addition, the harbor corporation formally recommended that the Empire State Development (ESD) board or directors officially adopt the Canal Side General Project Plan (GPP).

Under the $1.7 million contract with LiRo Engineers Inc., the company will be authorized to provide pre-construction services with regard to design of the Canal Side project's proposed public canal

Two city housing projects received support Monday from the Erie County Industrial Development Agency.

FJF Development/Utica Street Condominiums, LLC was approved for $430,000 in property, sales and mortgage recording tax abatements for its $2.7 million condominium/commercial space project. The property is located at 301-311 Utica Street.  Sixteen residences and ground floor retail space are planned.

1040 Delaware, LLC also saw approval of $210,000 in sales and mortgage recording tax abatements

San Francisco opened a new park this year.  Hold that yawn and read on.  The mini-park was created when a lane of traffic was removed from Spear Street creating room for a new 'linear park' in an emerging neighborhood.   San Francisco has made strides in reclaiming space throughout the city including removing the earthquake-damaged Embarcadero Freeway along its waterfront.  The City also replaced a portion of the Central Freeway with Octavia Boulevard, a European-style boulevard with enough leftover space to create 22

Joy Pepper, Executive Director of Tapestry Charter School, announced that construction has begun at its new campus at 65 Great Arrow Avenue, east of Delaware Avenue.  Construction work is being managed by Ellicott Development with architectural services by Trautman Associates.

When complete, the new campus will house grades K-12.  Grades K-8 are now housed at the corner of Franklin and Linwood and the high school is located in former

First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. is kicking off  a comprehensive plan to dramatically and visibly enhance homes, public spaces and business properties in the Larkin District and surrounding neighborhoods in 2010, as part of the bank's long-term commitment to partner with the Larkin Development Group and the public sector to revitalize the resurgent urban community.

During 2010 alone, over $2 million will be invested in spectacular streetscape improvements, redevelopment of a long vacant building into commercial space and rental apartments, and a financial assistance program that

The city's largest urban farm is growing.  A hoop house has been erected on Mark & Janice Stevens' Wilson Street Urban Farm in the Broadway/Fillmore neighborhood.  The plastic enclosed hoop house is an affordable alternative to a greenhouse.

The hoop house will extend the growing season. 

Formerly written-off, "unsalvageable" buildings have been restored in many communities including Buffalo.  There are a few building types that are most difficult to bring back, notably railroad stations and historic hotels.  Finding a new use for a rail station is a challenge, particularly if it must be repurposed.  For a large, old hotel, restoring former grandeur is labor intensive and expensive.  

Developers in Buffalo are looking

The first buyer closed on a unit in the Avant today.  The 1,283 sq.ft. condominium on the 15th floor was purchased for $383,250 according to County Clerk records.  Residences on the building's top three floors are the last component to come on line in Uniland's $85 million redevelopment project at 200 Delaware Avenue.  There are now 26 residences as several buyers will be combining units.

The Avant includes a 150-room Embassy Suites hotel on the first seven floors and 128,000 sq.ft. of office space on floors 8 through 12. Law firm Damon

Move over Steve Christie, there will be a new banner flying on the former AM&A's Department Store if developer Rocco Termini and The Hamister Group have their way.  The development team has announced that the 117 room hotel in the AM&A's complex is expected to carry the Hilton Garden Inn flag.  Downtown has been Hilton-less since Adam's Mark purchased and renamed the Buffalo Hilton in 1998.  The recently-opened Embassy Suites in the Avant and the Hampton Inn are members of the Hilton family of hotels.

Hilton