Buffalorising has been redesigned.

Hi and thanks for the post - there will be 60 live/work units in the project, though; 36 in the Main Street building and 24 in the 6 new buildings behind it.

Visit the website www.artspacebuffalo.org to see floor plans, rents and to sign up for emails.....

Too bad belmont shelter is the leasing agent - they are the group that attempted to demo 19 Coe for more Parking for their hideous bunker building on Main

There will be a total of 36 loft/work spaces for those who qualify .
Imagine the power of living within a building with others who are like-minded about their creative passions. They could call this dream come true: Nirvana on Main.

I hope the taxpayer subsidies for this "dream" will wake up and disappear as soon as possible, although I doubt that happens.

I've no opinion if there's a real need for this, but let the free market decide. If 36 self declared passionate members of the creative class want to live here and feel the collective power or whatever, that's wonderful but please let them or their patrons pay the full bills and take the full financial risks.

No matter how much tax money is wasted on other unjustified pork projects, there's no reason to add one more unjustified pork spending item such as this, which will need our care and feeding until the end of time or at least until it goes belly up for one reason or another. Sounds like this will be another hungry mouth to cry for more food every year at budget hearing time.

To clarify the financing, from a December 23 post to BRO:

Author: Eva Hassett
On the financial question:

The biggest single piece of the funding for the Artspace Buffalo project came from Low Income Housing Tax Credits, which are a federal vehicle for channeling investor money to affordable housing projects. This is not public money, it is actually private investor money looking for a federal tax shelter. Tax credits were about $11 million of the $16+ million budget.

Artspace also raised almost $2 million in charitable funds for this project from local individuals and foundations. There was a small ($250,000) HUD grant that came through Senator Clinton's office and federal HOME money that came through the City.

There is also a small mortgage on the project with M&T Bank.
While the apartments are leased at below market rates, the small amount of commercial space is leased at market rents to help create cash flow..

Because Artspace projects typically raise as much money as they can up front, the cost of carrying the project is very low. Artspace projects are meant to be fully self sufficient, meaning the rental income is enough to pay the operating expenses of the building as well as fund a reserve for repairs.

Artspace's experience thus far is that this formula works very well.
I hope this helps explain things. And I hope there are lots of interested tenants.....
Eva

Artspace projects are meant to be fully self sufficient , meaning the rental income is enough to pay the operating expenses of the building as well as fund a reserve for repairs.

Would it be rude to say this project is a funny definition of "fully self sufficient"?

Those rent amounts on the Artspace Buffalo web page look very much below market rates for a nice new building.

And if it wasn't dependent on public money, then no government agencies would take any credit for it and their names would not need to be associated with it - right?

The Art Space Buffalo web site also says this:

The Artspace Buffalo Lofts was made possible with support from the city, state, and federal governments.
Financing was provided by Apollo Housing Capital, LLC;
the City of Buffalo Office of Strategic Planning;
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Economic Development Initiative;
M & T Bank;
New York State Housing Trust Fund Corporation;
Community Preservation Corporation;
New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal;
New York State Historic Preservation Office ;
and National Park Service.

Maybe "fully self sufficient" was a little too strong?

Even those special tax shelters/loopholes that you mention clearly make it far from self sufficient in the way that term applies to most citizens who are not well connected profit making developers or "artists" deemed worthy of being selected.

Again I realize this is far from the only case of special interest pork spending around here, but it would be nice if you could more openly acknowledge this involves some cleverly planned public subsidies - the tax loopholes/shelters you mention and other things - that eventually benefit a very well-connected developer and to a lesser extent the lucky chosen tennants.

At least a thank you to the taxpayers would be nice.

funny how no one complains about the biggest most expensive government subsidized projects of all, that being highway construction projects

to be fair what about all the public funds that go into football and baseball stadiums and hockey arenas.l

Steel - I have attended public meetings and complained about highway construction projects.

Removing the tolls on the 190 - I say keep them and add them to similar highways in Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, and New York City.

Those whiners on Grand Island - they live on an ISLAND!!. The tolls should remain and maybe increase. Several tunnels connecting Manhattan Island and Long Island to each other and the main land cost between $3.50 to $6.00 to use.

Tolls on the 33, 400, 290, and 219 would be fine too.

The meager subsidies for people who will live at Artspace, working and living in the city, don't compare to the enormous subsidies for suburbanites who complain about $0.75 tolls.

Believe it or not city dwellers, who don't use the highways nearly as much as suburbanites, also pay taxes that subsidize those highways. Even the Artspace residents will pay taxes through sales tax if nothing else.

Actually, Grinch. the 60% AMI and above categories seem very realistic in terms of local rent prices, maybe even a bit high given the neighborhood it's in if that doesn't include gas. More than I pay for 1300 square feet in a prime area of Allentown, at least.
The prices seem comparable to Holling Place over on Washington Street, which has similar income restrictions.
(and I've tried to reply twice, and the page has completely crashed Firefox twice. Lovely.)

Let's not forget another HUGE tax subsidy: deductions for mortgage interest on houses.

Homeowners get a huge benefit from existing tax policy, and no one considers this a handout, but it is. Why not subsidize rents too?