Construction is well underway at the Sycamore Village project on the near east side. The development will consist of 24 detached single-family homes on a 3.86-acre parcel. The subdivision includes four subsidized and 20 market rate units that are expected to be priced in the $180,000 to $200,000 range. Five homes have been sold to date and a realtor is being retained to market the rest.
New homes along Sydni Alley.
Nine styles of homes are being built at the site, each with three or four bedrooms and 1,400 to 1,700 sq.ft. of living space. Most homes will have rear-loading garages, many accessed from Sydni Alley, a new alleyway cutting through the parcel. Each home will be extensively landscaped to the tune of $2,400 for plantings and raised flowerbeds as per a comprehensive landscape plan for the development.
Homes fronting future 'commons' area.
A park-like lawn area with a decorative pedestrian walkway in the interior of the block will offer a secure commons flanked on both sides by the front porches of adjacent homes for young children to play and neighbors to gather.
Interviewed last September, former Executive Director of the City’s Office of Strategic Planning Timothy E. Wanamaker called the project a “test case” for market-rate homes in the city.
“We need to re-grow the city. Not everyone wants to move into an older home. While some want the wonderful experience of renovating a home, quite a few families want new product. Our challenge is providing new for-sale homes to meet the demand,” Wanamaker said at the time.
David Torke on his fixBuffalo blog has been following the project since its inception and has a slightly different take on the wisdom of building new homes in the city, at this location and as designed.
Photos by David Torke.
