Commercial developers are lining up to take advantage of the recently passed NYS historic rehab tax credit benefits.  But the law also provides benefits to individual owners of certified historic homes or commercial buildings for a portion of the costs of approved historic rehabilitations.  Rehabilitation work on historic residential structures may qualify

As you may have noticed, we periodically update our readers on BuffaloRising.com traffic. We've taken the time to assemble a traffic review of the first seven months of 2009 - it sheds some interesting light on local internet traffic trends and larger internet trends. 

From January 1 - July 31, 2009, BuffaloRising.com received 1,319,447 visits - an increase of 17% over the first seven months of 2008.  At the same time, unique visitors have increased 35% to just over 462,000 and

Buffalo Rising T Shirts are on sale from now until Saturday at midnight.  Use coupon code THREEBUCKS to save - you guessed it - $3 per shirt. 
Get shopping. 

A well-known Buffalo attorney is moving into a Waterfront Place penthouse.  Stephen Barnes, of Cellino and Barnes PC, closed on the eleventh floor unit in the Pasquale mid-rise tower today.  Barnes paid $1,069,207.33 according to public records for the three-bedroom, 2,728 sq.ft. unit.  A second, top-floor residence with 3,633 sq.ft. of space is sold but has not yet closed.

Approximately two-thirds of Pasquale's 49 units are sold with several

I am spotlighting a rental today that may be against the dictum of "cool," but I'm doing it anyway. To compound the already dubious choice of "cool," I am jumping on a recent neighborhood bandwagon: the 700 block of Main Street between Goodell Street and West Tupper, specifically

Auctioneer Cash Cunningham has been very busy in the past few weeks, leading a number of interested parties through the Statler in preparation for this week's auction that will take place at 11AM on Wednesday, August 12th in the hotel's lobby.
"I've taken a number of people through, and we certainly hope for a successful auction, though their interest

The University at Buffalo is pushing to purchase a well-kept, low rise housing project in the shadows of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.  Over time, the 15-acre McCauley Gardens site would be used to relocate the university's medical schools and 13,000 students and staff downtown.  Bounded by Harriett Tubman Way to the east, Virginia Street on the north, North Oak Street on the west and Goodell Street on the south, McCarley Gardens was built in 1978 and has 150 townhome units in 23, two-story buildings.

The Buffalo News has the

It has been a quiet year since Savarino Companies stepped forward with reuse plans for the White's Livery property at 428 Jersey Street.  The circa-1889 structure was nearly completely leveled by the City after its historic walls started crumbling.  Neighborhood residents successfully lobbied the City to save the structure's front and rear facades and distinctive tower.  Savarino's plans for an apartment project to be constructed

Reuse of a historic, abandoned orphanage is moving forward thanks to a grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York.   The $570,000 affordable housing grant to the Community Action Organization of Erie County will help finance the rehabilitation and construction of St. Martin Village, which will provide 60 units of affordable housing for very low-income families at the site of the German Catholic

Uniland's largest and most recent development is receiving its signature sign, being developed by Wilcox Signs. Crews began installing the lighted letters on Thursday, spelling out the Avant name for the sleek, mixed-use building on Delaware Avenue. The letters are a mix of six-foot and seven-foot high LED-lighted pieces, gracing the top of the once bleak elevator tower. During the day, the letters will appear black, while at night, they switch to a bright white.
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A historic gas station in the Larkin District has shed its white skin and is being readied for new life.  Larkin Development Group is converting the Larkin Station #6 at Seneca and Van Rensselaer streets to retail space.  The filling station was purchased in late-May along with the three-story "Larkin U" building at 237 Van Rensselaer and two parking lots. 

An enhanced Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit is expected to breathe new life into the state's historic downtown areas while creating jobs and providing a boost to the economy.  Governor Paterson held a ceremonial bill signing at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society yesterday.

While New York's preservation tax credit was adopted in 2006, the program did not provide adequate incentives to attract sufficient investment to struggling municipalities, particularly those upstate.  The expanded rehabilitation tax credit program provides incentives to developers,

An East Side warehouse will see new life as a business incubator under plans by prolific developer and rehabber Rocco Termini.  Space in the five-story, circa-18951901 (thanks Chris H!)brick building on Cherry Street will marketed to high tech businesses and start-ups, capitalizing on the site's proximity to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.  Termini says legislation signed by Governor Paterson yesterday that enhances the State's Historic Preservation

The Catholic Diocese is not alone in trying to sell a church or two.  The St Paul's & St Mark's United Church of Christ at the corner of W. Huron and Niagara streets has also been put up for sale.  The fairly new church, built in 1987, is listed with the Bronstein Group at $469,000. 

The building contains 7,000 sq.ft. on the main floor with a 3,800 sq.ft. mezzanine overlooking the high-ceilinged chapel.  It sits on a 1/3 acre parcel and has six off-street parking spaces.

The church is in the shadows of the recently-completed Niagara Center and its bland

To no great surprise, a prominent site on Court Street will remain a parking lot for the foreseeable future.  Ellicott Development's Carl Paladino tells The Buffalo News today that his plan for a new office building at 50 Court Street have been postponed "because the economy is in the [toilet]." 

"The downtown office market is terrible," he said. "We're going to have to wait until the other shoe falls."

Ellicott Development has been trying to build an office building at 50 Court Street since the late 1980's. 

I've been shopping houses lately.  Starting with 3 basic criteria (schools are not an issue at present), I've given a few realtors my must-haves within a pretty wide range of Buffalo neighborhoods.
Some realtors point to homes regardless of the criteria, while some get the criteria, but have a skewed safety image (I said nothing about safety because I feel safe, regardless of neighborhood) and some give a shout when they think they've found a newly or about-to-be marketed home within my scope, both financially and amenity-wise.
To location, location,

Buffalo has an abundance of great houses. Driving through the downtown, you can't help but notice the turn-of-the-century architecture and one-of-a-kind houses. Here's a glimpse of some of Buffalo's finest, featuring streets such as Cleveland, Lincoln, North, Middlesex, Oakland, Bryant, Windsor, Cottage, Depew, Chapin, and Meadow.
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After a longer than expected incubation, a Cottage District condo conversion project is about to hit the market.  The three full-floor units at The Lofts on York at the corner of York Street and Union Place are priced from $209,000 to $219,000. 

Each residence contains two bedrooms and two baths with 1,400 to 1,500 sq.ft . of living space.  Finishes include granite countertops, travertine, bamboo and polished concrete flooring, high efficiency furnaces and central air, security

A long-vacant building in the West Village is being targeted for a $1.1 million makeover.  Kissling Interests is seeking City approvals to convert the historic Lake Hotel at 201 W. Huron Street into eight rental apartments.  The project will be before the Planning Board on July 28.

Business First reports that units will each be two bedrooms with at least one bath. 

A former elementary school in South Buffalo will be converted to senior housing under a $9 million plan unveiled yesterday.  The Holy Family Senior Housing Development Project will contain 30 one-bedroom apartments and five, two-bedroom apartments in the three-story structure. The 35 apartments will be affordable to persons of low- and moderate-income who are 55 years of age and older. 

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