Despite signs of a national recession, economic development remains “strong” in Buffalo. That is the word from Mayor Byron Brown as he toured the 200 Delaware Avenue redevelopment project. The Mayor stated that the City of Buffalo continues to attract and sustain important public and private investment that supports a strong economic development environment throughout the city, particularly in the downtown central business district.
Joining Uniland Development Company President Carl Montante and Michael Huntress of Acquest Development at the firms’ 200 Delaware construction site, Mayor Brown reiterated his 2008 State of the City message that development remains strong in Buffalo and that the infusion of public and private investment dollars have helped strengthened the city’s overall fiscal condition.
“The City of Buffalo is experiencing an incredibly strong period of investment and development, which has helped send a clear message throughout the region and the nation that Buffalo is a great location to build and do business,” said Mayor Brown.
“New projects, such as the completed BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York’s regional headquarters, or the redevelopment of sites such as Uniland’s 200 Delaware project and New Era Cap Company’s international headquarters in the former Federal Reserve Bank building are evidence that the environment for doing business in Buffalo, for investing and developing in our city, is strong and making a significant difference in our city’s physical landscape and overall economic condition.”
Since taking office, Mayor Brown has made restoring Buffalo’s fiscal health and fostering investment and development top priorities of his administration.
"Rebuilding the City of Buffalo back to its former glory will take the continued commitment and cooperation of both the public and private sector,” said Mr. Montante. “That's exactly what is taking place here at the 200 Delaware project. Uniland and Acquest Development may be leading the charge, but the city, county, state, and even surrounding neighbors and community activists have played critical roles in helping to bring this exciting new project to fruition. It is truly the result of a team effort."
To further enhance and strengthen his Administration’s commitment to maintaining this level of development activity, which has built up over the past several years, Mayor Brown created the new position of Chief Economic Development Officer to oversee all development-related activities in the city.
Said the Mayor, ”As the city’s Chief Economic Development Officer, Brian Reilly possesses the skill and experience we need to go to the next level of economic development in Buffalo. He has a proven track record of success in Great Lakes cities that have successfully implemented creative and sustainable economic development programs.”
“Our goal is to continue to reduce the “hassle factor” of doing business in Buffalo by creating clear, predictable processes to enable more investment here,” said Reilly. “Our plans need to define the kind of development we want to see, our regulations need to convey what is required, and our permitting needs to be more timely and solution focused. We are working within and beyond city hall to provide that level of service to existing businesses and those who want to expand here.”
To date, according to Mayor Brown, approximately $1 billion of public and private investments have been completed in the city completed since January 2006 and an additional $1 billion is under construction.
“What my focus on economic development will do now is something we as a city haven’t done in a long time—to systematically create the conditions for more private sector development,” said the Mayor. “Local government’s role is to ‘set the table’ for private sector development.”
200 Delaware is the $63 million redevelopment of the former Dulski federal building. The revamped property will include a 150-room Embassy Suites hotel on the first seven floors, 128,000 sq.ft. of office space on floors 8 through 12 anchored by law firm Damon and Morey, and 37 luxury residential units on the top three floors. Work is expected to be completed early next year.
Photos by City of Buffalo Office of Strategic Planning