Infill Housing Planned for Midtown Neighborhood
The reconstructed Buffalo Academy of Visual & Performing Arts High School is getting some new neighbors. Five single-family homes to be exact. The Buffalo Planning Board on Tuesday will kick-off the environmental review for the two-story homes to be built by Bethel Community Development Corporation. Three homes will be located at 1500-1520 Michigan Avenue and two will be built on nearby 95-101 Woodlawn.
The parcels along Michigan Avenue have made news recently. Control Board member Rev. Richard A. Stenhouse drew sharp criticism for not maintaining the four vacant homes on the site owned by his not-for-profit Bethel Community Development Corporation. The violations landed in Housing Court were Bethel agreed to expedite demolition of the homes. This is the same site where Bethel had pegged for eight townhomes. Funding for that project never materialized.
95-101 Woodlawn is just a few properties east of the Woodlawn Rowhouses. The four-unit historical structure has been slowly deteriorating under City ownership and is scheduled to be auctioned on September 22. David at Fix Buffalo has been documenting the neglect of the rowhouses and the troubled Stenhouse properties for some time.
Bethel Community Development Corporation was created to revitalize the area surrounding Bethel AME Church. To date, fourteen single-family homes have been completed on nearby Elsie, Purdy and Ada Place (main entry image and rendering below). Six additional homes are planned on adjacent lots. The 1,200 to 1,500 sq.ft., three and four-bedroom homes sell in the $90,000 - $130,000 range. Purchase subsidies are available for lower income buyers.
What Others Have To Say
What Do You Think?
Related Articles
-
The Wait is Almost Over - BR's New Site
As we mentioned in our previous post, we’re in the process of changing the Buffalo Rising site. We’re almost there as we expect to launch the new site on Friday, December 19th.
In the meantime, posting will be light as we log new stories in the new publishing system which will only be viewable when we launch on Friday.
As always, we appreciate our users’ patience as we make this transition but we promise it will be well worth it. With faster load times, a comment view … - Dec 18th 2008, 11:32am
- Continue Reading
- 5 Comments
-
A Kennedy Visits Buffalo
Caroline Kennedy was in town for a visit with our mayor yesterday. A possible choice to succeed US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Kennedy's name has been mentioned along with that of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (son of former New York Governor Mario Cuomo) and our own Byron Brown, among others.
Certainly, Kennedy has "been around politics" all of her life, which is to say she was born into a family of politicos and lived in the White House--neither of which would necessarily f … - Dec 18th 2008, 7:55am
- Continue Reading
- 32 Comments
-
Downtown Free Fare Zone May be Axed
Free light rail rides on downtown's above ground section could be derailed thanks to the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority's budget mess. That is the news coming out of a Buffalo Place meeting this morning. Facing a budget shortfall and reduced State operating assistance, the NFTA is scrambling for new revenue sources and is contemplating charging for rides along the lengthy downtown pedestrian mall.- Dec 17th 2008, 4:40pm
- Continue Reading
- 48 Comments
-
The NFTA Santa Ride
Well it is Christmas time in the city and the NFTA helped put people and especially children into the mood in a very festive and fun way. One of my favorite memories of childhood was taking the train downtown with my grandfather. I would gaze out the windows and watch the tunnel speed by. It always felt like we were going a million miles an hour.
Then there was the ability to stand up and walk around during the ride without the need to be strapped down. It was always a fun time … - Dec 17th 2008, 4:34pm
- Continue Reading
- Join the conversation
Comment Options
eyepharded
Its nice to see that neighborhood improving. If only the rest of the masten district followed suit.
Report this
STEEL
Where is the plan?
Report this
Denizen
Ugh, more cheapo suburban crap. This is honestly a major waste of Taxpayer $$$. Most of these houses will probably end up becoming foreclosure bait within 5-8 years.
The last thing a neighborhood with a vast negative demand for housing needs is brand new houses. It's bad enough this junk is heavily subsidized. It's even worse that there is no code or design standards that at least requires these newbuilds to try and fit into an urban setting.
If these buyers really want suburban housing, there's plenty to go around in.......the suburbs. Plenty of decent 60-80K houses in Cheektowaga or Tonawanda where the public schools are much better anyway. Much of the East Side would just be better off being landbanked until real demand and population growth occurs citywide, whenever that may be.
Report this
hamp
We can do better. Other cities with fewer resources manage to build more appropriate urban housing. This stuff looks cheap, the stuff you think of when you think of urban sprawl.
Report this
urbanesque
If you want better housing, then build it yourself. These houses are well received by the families who move into them, in fact for many it is a major step-up. The East Side is struggling to keep the population that it has, many home-owners fled to more desirable areas in the 80s and 90s, and now many of the renters have followed suit, moving to University Heights, Cheektowaga, and Amherst. If we want the East Side to improve, we have to encourage people to live there in a permanent and vested way, instead of the highly transient population that lives there today. The target population needs subsidies and support to make this happen. Agencies and groups that offer this support cannot afford the liability of putting families into homes with lead paint, asbestos insulation, and antiquated facilities (heating, roof, windows, plumbing, etc). In these cases a new build is often easier to offer than existing stock. It would be great if we could offer houses as soon as they were vacated, hopefully before the decay started; however the painfully slow process of trying to sell, foreclosures, tax sales, city ownership, decay, neglect, vandalism, etc, etc, etc; makes it difficult to move people into vacant houses without a significant cash investment up-front. People want new houses, they are willing to wait for them and pay for them, let's support this as a good thing for the East Side. If you have a better plan, then put your money where your mouth is and repair or build something to compete with Bethel.
Report this
Dgard
When are we going to stop criticizing every housing project on the east side? If the city can continue the progress of developing new single family housing on declining residential streets and combine it with new mid to high rise residential on it's thorougfares, it would create unique communities that appeal to a wide cross-section of the population.
Urbanesque -- you rock -- you get it!
Report this
chris69
why wouldnt they be well received....their low income housing that has been given to them below cost simply because their a minority and probably a minority with connections (I will leave it at that)
give me a house below cost and Id be happy too
Report this
Denizen
No this is more a collective attitude problem (disposable culture) than a logistical inability to resue what already exists. It costs much less to rehab an old home up to perfectly modern standards and preferences rather than build a shoddy new one. Putting 90K into a structurally sound but beat up old house is a much more cost effective investment than wasting $100K (and still another $100K after subsidy for the buyer to absorb) on a vinyl piece of shit. Under the 90K rehab scheme, 50K could be subsidized and the remained 40K would make a very affordable mortgage for the new family occupying the wonderfully restored home. There could still be room for a few context-appropriate newbuilds on vacant lots in between the restored houses.
I don't have a problem with subsidies, and I fully support the revitalization of the city's blighted and transitional communities. But if the government is going to foot the bill for a large portion of the costs of these infill houses, they might as well conform to a design that gives something back to the city, something that will serve the public good, instead of just the greedy short-term interests of a select few.
A. There have been numerous reports about how half-ass these new houses are built. Politically-connected builders slap these houses up using shoddy construction techniques and materials. The same house in the burbs gets built in a much more competent manner. Maybe the builders figure the people moving in are just ignorant poor folk who don't give a shit?? Therfore they think won't be held accountable for building cheap garbage? If this were true, it would be a case of these CDCs actually selling their own community short. I guess self-victimization is nothing new here....
B. The construction of these houses has siphoned many middle class African Americans from older stable neighborhoods like Hamlin Park. Do we want to see more established city neighborhoods become destabilized so a bunch of connected builders can make a quick buck??
C. As many have said about this whole issue: THERE IS NO PLAN. Many of these newbuilds are plopped down on devastated blocks where many abandoned, crime-magnet houses still stand. Getting the city to take town the worst offenders is a multi-year proposition. There should be a moratorium on all subsidized infill until there is some sort of comprehensive, urban-friendly plan established. Otherwise the whole thing will continue being one big f-ng mess. Perhaps it;s time for City Hall to hire some more planners.
Report this
urbanesque
Denizen: I agree with the three points that you make; however I still contend that it is easier to build new than to rehab the old. The agency that places people into these homes is accountable for the condition of the house when the new resident moves in. All it takes is one family to find a mold, asbestos, water, electrical, or other safety issue, and that agency is featured on Channel 7 news with the headline "is your family safe?".
The shoddy construction and political connections are easily resolved issues. The city and agencies need to hold developers accountable and put them on the front page of the news (as seen in Suckamore Village). As far as siphoning the middle class African Americans (as though they are the only demographic in Buffalo), many are biding their time in neighborhoods until they can leave. It would be nice to have them stay in the city instead of moving to Amherst, Cheektowaga, or North Carolina. As far as planning goes, that is a systemic issue that has plagued Buffalo for decades. We lack direction, collective vision, and leadership! If we had these things we may not be in the position that we are currently in.
Report this
joey
Calling these new builds..shoddy pieces of crap?? Are you saying that the City building codes are being ignored?? That the building inspectors responsible cannot do their job and hold these contractors/architects to the INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODES...THE SAME ONES THAT ARE USED IN AMHERST, ORCHARD PARK AND CLARENCE!!? SHOOTING FROM THE HIP er mouth again?? It's new development, BUT as always ,naysayers finding a reason why it shouldnt and cant be done!!! AHHH BUFFALO and we look aroud and wonder WHY!! OK, WHO'S THE FIRST TO INITIATE A LAWSUIT TO DELAY THIS PROJECT??
Report this
bj07
Why does every new development or housing that doesn't meet up to someone's design standards on this website have to immediately be referred to as 'suburban'?
I highly doubt that we'll ever see again, the type of craftmanship and quality that went into the houses when that neighorhood was originally built. Cheaper materials are used in housing everywhere you go.
Denizen: What design would be more 'urban'-appropriate for you?
Report this
42nate
Ooooooooh, nice garagescape!
Report this
Denizen
bj07, take a look here: http://www.designadvisor.org/
Lot's of photos of attractive "affordable housing" found on that site.
Report this
42nate
bjo7, the reason that Denizen called them as suburban is their wide lots--wider than the parcels as originally divided. Lots were combined for these new-builds. Then you add houses that have their wide dimension to the street in order to accomodate a driveway and bring the garage up front, and you have the basic suburban template.
Nearly all of Buffalo south of Delaware Park, especially the East Side, was built before the advent of the automobile or before the advent of union wages that allowed working class people to own automobiles. Hence, the surviving houses present the narrow side to the street and telescope out to the back. Those houses with barns, carriage houses, or garages have them behind the house, not next to it.
Even in North Buffalo, which almost completely dates from after the automobile, the garages are in the back and the houses do not present their widest dimensions to the street. Lots are much deeper than they are wide in order to fit more of them on the block and make service delivery (water, sewer, electricity, roads, plowing, etc.) more economical.
By widening the lots, which limits the number of houses you can build, infrastructure costs per household increase. This is what we mean by "sprawl" in a shrinking metropolitan area. Fewer people consuming more land, raising the cost of infrastructure and services (AKA "taxes") for everyone.
Report this
pgf1948
This should not be called in-fill, but leak-out.
Report this
rickyrick
Give them about 20 years (given that the city continues to lose in population) and these house willl be boarded up, arsoned on and flipped in the market. Low income neighborhoods and no BUSINESSES withen walking distance of them to support an URBAN MARKET......What are the city planners really on?
Report this
david
Quick correction. The 'Woodlawn Row Houses' are one block further east, corner of Masten.
Report this
rickyrick
How nice it would be to live in a suburban style house with the ghetto just a block away. Soon, you'll see these sweet little houses covered in BARS as fear of the crime too close to home.
Report this
Dan
If infill is going to be built ont he East Side, why doesn't the city insist on a New Urbanism/traditional neighborhood development-based model, something that respects the URBAN heritage, context and site planning of the area? There's the old saying that when a plane lands in Buffalo, the flight attends say "please set your watches back 20 years", but urban planning in Buffalo is even more retrograde. Maybe if city leaders went beyond the tattered copies of Planning magazine from the 1970s and model subdivision guides from the 1950s, dropped the "any development is better than nothing" mindset, and learned about best practices in urban infill from the 1990s onward, the term "vinyl Victorian" might fade from the local vocabulary.
Yeah, I know this will only get one star because it's not upbeat and positive. Sigh ...
Report this
Dan
By the way ...
Infill in Buffalo:
Infill in Denver.
Try to call Buffalo-style infill more "real", "authentic", "genuine" or whatever,
Report this