Home Building Starts at Sycamore Village
“We have seen an increase in the demand for new, market-rate housing in the City of Buffalo,” said Mayor Brown. “Sycamore Village will help fulfill that demand by adding single family homes to the lofts and condominium projects that are continuing to expand nearby in Downtown. This new development provides a good mix of housing options, while integrating them into a setting that promotes the benefits residents derive from city living.”
“This unique living experience embraces the concept of ‘new urbanism,’ which promotes compact, walkable communities,” said Timothy E. Wanamaker, Executive Director of the Office of Strategic Planning. “Twenty-four brand new homes are being constructed; each model has its own unique look. We are all very excited for this project to get off the ground.”
The first homes, expected to sell in the $180,000 to $200,000 range, will be ready for occupancy in the spring.
Get Connected: Sycamore Village website.
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Comment Options
RisingDamp666
OK, whose daughter is named "Sydni"?
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chiknlil
Our tax dollars at work!
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Joshua
Well, hopefully this will be a start for private developers to start building on the East Side.
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sbrof
"Suburban living in an Urban Setting" ~ Byron Brown
From his poster advertising this development. Now that is vision!!! Almost like those heyday's of the 60's all over again! Where is the new Main Place Mall going to get built? The next highway cutting through our city? Because that is what we get when we try to be something we are not.
Also I thought this was supposed to be 'new' urbanist..?
Lord Byron's Poster from Fix Buffalo
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Joshua
Sydni sounds Australian - I think we need to get Sydni and Brook together for a party......lol
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urbanesque
I know that the fact that they used the word "Suburban" immediately turns BRO readers off to this project; however I think that this may be a successful development for the East Side. This development is a hell of a lot better than another 'shovel ready' site, or commercial development that could have gone in here. The streets connect straight through to Sycamore and Jefferson, which is an improvement over past projects that attempted to shield the development from the surrounding neighborhoods. The construction of the houses will need to meet all existing zoning and building codes; so they will have a certain level of quality, and I can bet that they are no worse than existing houses in the surrounding area. We can claim that all existing houses were built by amazing craftsmen using only the top grade materials; but anyone who has owned a common house on the East Side knows that this isn't the case. I lived in two houses that were constructed with crate and pallet wood instead of full 2x4s, they had issues with the foundation and floor joists, etc, the builders took short-cuts and cut corners to get the job done. I am confident that this won't be the case with the new builds, especially with the amount of publicity being put on this project.
If you are in the Mayor's shoes, looking at the primary constituency of the city, you will see the lack of new build housing as a concern. People are fleeing the East Side for other areas of the city and for the suburbs, some of those are leaving for better houses in better neighborhoods. He can work on improving the condition of the neighborhoods through community activism, a police show of force, and other tactics; so he needs to focus on the issue of available homes. I am sure that the typical BRO reader is not the target demographic for these homes. I believe that he is trying to keep people in the area, this is an important requirement for improving the East Side, which if I recall was one of the promises that he made while running for Mayor.
Give these a shot, it looks like it could be the start of a building trend if this does well. I recommend that we put our collective energy behind this construction instead of playing armchair critic.
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flyguy
I agree that the old houses on the east side were and are anything but of high quality construction. Many are very poorly insulated in addition to inconsistencies in building materials, etc. However those homes stood the test of time for many many years and generations because people took pride in ownership and actually took care of their properties. Now they've been abused in many cases and have not been maintained and upkept and now are much more expendable than they had been say 25 years ago.
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MikeJW
That's the most work the mayor has done since going into office! It's nice to see Byron "I can't wait for the next photo op" Brown.
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Joshua
Well if Byron's objective was to keep people in the City, East Side - at least he is keeping 20 families there. I think the East Side needs more than that.
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RonR
Does anyone really think they are going to get 180k to 200k for these homes? Will the ACTUAL sales price be disclosed to the public since there is public money involved?
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Joshua
Check this out: How to tell your a suburanite. An interesting commentary from the Buffalo News.
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Soja
RisingDamp666--
The city's Strategic Planning czar, Tim Wanamaker, has a daughter names Sydni. What makes this amusing is that, according to the city's property information site (http://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us/applications/propertyinformation/propsearch.aspx), Wanamaker doesn't actually own any property in the city.
There's irony, and then there's irony.
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DumpsterKid
"never been on a metro bus", thats my favorite
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MikeJW
"consider Hertel downtown"
Sad but true...
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stopbeingnegative
This is getting to be a broken record. The city is moving forward with this development. It is going to happen.
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chiknlil
• You have either uttered these words or nodded along while someone else has: “I’m not against it; I just don’t think it fits in this neighborhood.” - Sounds like so many neighborhoods in Buffalo
• You spend more than a month’s salary on your son’s travel hockey team. - Because City kids don't play organized sports, what are they too poor to do that you elitist prick?
• You can’t get more than a mile from your house without passing at least one chain drugstore. - you mean like along Main, Elmwood, Delavan, Grant, Hertel, Delaware, etc?
What a ####### joke, this really does a lot to further alienate suburbanites from the city. I can't believe that this was published, maybe someone will publish a similar list for the City residents that includes things like "if you are afraid to leave your house at night for fear of being shot" or some other stereotypical bullcrap. This is totally irresponsible and sets back progress that has been made in bringing the city and suburbs closer together. I liken this to someone putting out a list of blond jokes, or using generalizations and stereotypes about any other group. What's next, "You might be a African American if..."? We are so much better than this.
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wunder_y
Off and running. Please tell me what we mean in this town by "market rate". If these cost $400,000 to build all-in (site assembly, remediation, infrastructure, etc) and sell for $180,000 - 200,000, isn't all that public money that's left on the table a subsidy - in addition to the 10 years that owners won't be paying property taxes? Now, in addition to Federal HOME and Community Development Block Grant dollars, I'm told New Market Tax Credit benefits have been added to this project on top of Empire Zone benefits. What happened to using those last two resources to create jobs like they're supposed to? In the real world "market rate" derives from what the comparable values of arms-length sales of nearby properties are. For that reason maybe the project in North Buffalo along the abondoned rail bed makes sense, but the new homes that were built in this area over the years, even those solid brick ones further west along Genesee and the side streets are only selling for the $80-90's. So let's be a little more honest and not call this "market rate". It's the most expensive subsidized housing built there to date in hopes that 20 houses will somehow spur further investment at levels that the conventional market hasn't grown close to over the years. If there was any evidence that showed the potential of this kind of project, and the extensive downtown housing market study that is available on the city's web site doesn't, I'd be less concerned. Maybe this one would make sense close to the medical campus investments, but at this location? Oh, and "walkable"! To where?
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chiknlil
Sorry, I was going to offer a rebuttal, but then I remember that Bruce Andriatch is a suburbanite who lives on a street that is named after someone's grandkids and probably has water and sump pump issues. So he is projecting his experiences on the rest of the suburbanites. Maybe he just hops on the highway to get downtown instead of spending time on Hertel or in Delaware Park. I still think that this is unnecessary and juvenile.
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Joshua
chiknlil - man I only posted it for some humor - calm down buddy. This just confirms one of my former posts, things just get to serious in here.
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Joshua
Let's see where he would have gotten this idea from -- possibly: You know you're from Buffalo when...
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al-alo
dont you hate pants?
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Joshua
al-alo - lol - pants - that's funny
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al-alo
by the way, that "How to tell your a suburanite" story (if you can call copying a 5 year old stand up act a story) makes me wonder how people fit that discription dont slit their wrists while watching "deal or no deal".
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Joshua
i can't stand "deal or no deal," lol
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wizardofza
My favorites: • You know exactly how to get to every Applebee’s in town, but you have to use MapQuest to find Delaware Park.
• The only time you are in Buffalo is when you drive through it on the way to your suburban workplace from your suburban home. And when you go to Sabres games.
• You never lock your front door at home, but you lock your car doors as soon as you see a sign that says “Welcome to Buffalo.”
• All the restaurants you go to are within walking distance of a mall or in one.
• You appreciate the subtle differences between Bed, Bath & Beyond and Linens-N-Things.
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al-alo
one more thing about that suburbite story. they forgot the most obvious qualifiers:
- you are white
- vinyl siding is a turn on
- you complain about the big government tax burdern in erie county, even though half of your family is employed by the city/county/state/various authorities
- when you see somebody differnt from you (guess what i mean), you lock your car doors/hold your purse close to you/stay inside the cheesecake factory until they go away.
- you have the carbon footprint of a small central american country
- whenever you see a new housing development replace a farm, you complain about the newcomers bringing traffic and ruining the view, even though you moved in to your new house 3 years ago.
what, too close to home?
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al-alo
how about:
- you think a metro rail expansion will mean criminals will commute to your neighborhood to steal your lawn knome.
- visiting the casino is a cultural experience
- you think Tim Hortins is international cuisine
- all the maps in your car have a highlighted red warning line drawn on kenmore ave.
- you oppose a downtown football stadium because you dont want to go "down there".
- to you, a wilson farms is buying local
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WeLovePanos
WOW, WHAT A GREAT PIC OF 5 CAREER POLITICIANS!!! Thesze people have noi clue what the real world is like outside of politcal meetings, budget overages, and free grants. This is what our city has come to...this pic!
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al-alo
and finally, you have repeated the same stale sterotypes of the city for the past 3 decades. sometimes, you even manage to get them published in the buffalo news.
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al-alo
what? how come its ok to publish and reinforce negitive city sterotypes, but not that of the suburbs? answer me that!
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WeLovePanos
Ok, if they were really all about the community...then career politicians should do what Collins is doing, not take a salary. Then we can weed out politics as a career.
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al-alo
pano,
that not paying elected officials worked out great in the roman senate.
so what he doesnt take a salary? alls that means is he's rich. great representitive sample. it reads as a cheap political stunt to me. not even an original stunt, at that.
and as a disclaimer, i didnt vote for him. i dont know how well CEO skills translate to govenment. i do, frankly, hope he does succeed - even tho hes not of my party. if he can do well for the county, and turn things around, like he says, well, then maybe next time around he'll have my vote. here's crossing my fingers.
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WeLovePanos
Yeah, hasnt worked well for Bloomberg in NYC either, right Al? NYC has boomed since he took office...poor comparison on your part
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WeLovePanos
So being a Democrat as you are, you approve of the job the Dems have done in the city of Buffalo for the last 25 years???
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urbanesque
As a counterpoint:
You might be from the City if: You know the day of the week by the side of the street you park on
You always vote democrat, regardless of who is on the ticket
You believe that Jimmy Griffin would make a fine President
You do your weekly grocery shopping at Wilson Farms because Wegmans is too far away
You had to clean puke or pee off your doorstep from someone else's drunken night on the town
You really want something better for the city, but just not (fill in any of the 100 proposals)
You still haven't gotten over UB in Amherst, Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, the Galleria opening in Cheektowaga, National Fuel moving the Amherst, and the closing of Bethlehem Steel.
You believe that the aforementioned events are the fault of the suburbs and lead to Buffalo's downturn.
You believe that the word suburban is twice as bad as a four letter word.
I am just procrastinating, I should be doing real work right now.... Please don't take this seriously.
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WeLovePanos
LOL
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becker
Dude... It's /b at the end of the line... :-)
Great list....
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sbrof
I agree and isn't it written in county law what his salary should be.. I want to know where the money is going? If he REALLY wanted to be a good sport about it. He would take the money and then donate it so a needy cultural or non-profit each month. Keeping it in the system means he is probably just lining someone else's pockets that much more. Who knows maybe even his children will be county employees and rake in even more money since that is what he does with his businesses. Nothing says merry christmas to a 16 year old like a six figure check. Until i see where the money goes consider it nothing more than a political stunt.
Also we shouldn't be surprised by the news article. Anyone who grew up or lives in the city, knows how painfully obvious it is that suburbanites think down about the big bad city. Why try to hide it, maybe if they were a little more honest about their bias we could work things out and try to solve some of the misconceptions. But alas most people (not all) would rather sit and preach from the top of their hill and don't have any real concern for actually fixing the problems. That would involve work... Its just so easy to complain and point fingers.
They go ahead and complain about unemployment and poor people in the city.. "Get a job you bums!" but as soon as you start talking about bringing light rail / or better bus services into the suburbs... you know those things that are necessary to get people to centers of employment (which are in the suburbs) all the activist pop out of the wall and complain about how it is going to ruin their community. Because it's ok for it ruin ours, the city, but not their precious little picket fences.
Remember it took THE DEATH of a young women before NFTA buses were even allowed onto Mall Property... If that doesn't sum up this whole problem to people then nothing ever will.
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al-alo
Panos -
dont get me wrong, i couldnt be less enthusiastic about the leadership in this town or even western ny in general. no visionaries. and i dont mean we only a little visionaries. or short term visionaries. i mean none (margin of error +/- 3%). just hacks. backroom deals. and dividing up an ever shrinking pie.
party affiliation actually means little to me. too often they are a marriage of convenience. especially on the local level. and i really really wasnt enthusiastic about keane either. talk about blahhhhhh. oh, my party affiliation? well. ive been a few. i was too far to the right for the greens, and too far left for the dems, and the independence party . . .well. . .it seems all they do is pick winners, and no real consistent ideology. libertarian is a little unpractical. wheres that leave me? gawd, not the marijuana reform party! ahhh!
as far bloomberg goes. well. frankly. i think hes more exception than rule. think ross perot. that said, i hope he runs for president. he is exactly the kind of person this country needs. id dump the dems so fast!
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tinker
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al-alo
oh panos,
sorry if i came off a little uncivil in my earlier reply to you. wasnt my intention.
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sayvanderlay
A few thoughts:
1 - God bless anyone who is willing to invest real money here. 2 - Have we already forgotten Hickory Woods? 3 - What a shock that the BRO crowd can find architectural issues here. 4 - How can anyone buy a house here without knowing what's coming to the Buffalo Forge site, right around the corner? 5 - The "we shouldn't build new houses until every half burned-out piece of shit is occupied" attitude is assinine.
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Joshua
someone forgot the end bold tag
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Joshua
i think this is back to normal
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