Absolutely true! One of Buffalois oldest public housing sites is poised to become its newest residential village incorporating a "new urbanist" design. Norstar Development and Savarino Companies have been selected by the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority (BMHA) to transform the A.D. Price Courts apartment project at Jefferson Avenue and William Street. A mix of rental and for-sale homes are planned.
The first phase, scheduled to begin in the fall of 2006, will involve the rehabilitation of 170 rental units at the corner of Spring and Peckham streets. Subsequent phases will demolish nine existing, three-story garden style apartment buildings and add 20 new for-sale homes and 77 new rental units as well as a community center, pocket park, rehabilitation of Willert Park, and infrastructure improvements. New homes will line the entire west side of Jefferson Avenue between William Street and Broadway. The development will also include units on the east side of Jefferson and along Peckham, Mortimer and Hollister streets.
Architect Foit-Albert Associates has designed the new housing to reflect the character and scale of homes found throughout Buffalois older neighborhoods. Single-family, double and townhome units are planned and many of the homes will feature usable front porches and alley-loaded garages. The scale and design are conducive to create a lively, pedestrian-friendly urban neighborhood. The construction will join other recent developments in the area including hundreds of homes built in the Willert Park Homeownership Zone, a rebuilt Towne Gardens Plaza, and revamped Ellicott Mall and Frederick Douglas Towers complexes.
It is anticipated that the entire $40 million project will be complete by the end of 2007. Financing for the project will come from several private and public sources. A portion of the capital for the project will come from the sale of Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits issued through the New York State Department of Housing and Community Renewal.
The BMHA has been under fire for perceived mismanagement and for providing a service many say is unnecessary in a city with a surplus of housing. To its credit, the Authority has been revitalizing the sites of poorly designed and severely distressed public housing projects and, as a result, helping improve surrounding neighborhoods. The proposed design of the A.D. Price project is also vast improvement over previous rebuilding efforts at other housing complexes and raises the bar for infill housing design in the city.
Images courtesy of Savarino Companies.