Another long-dormant Main Street building will be coming back to life. The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation is providing a $95,000 grant to Housing Opportunities Made Equal to aid the civil rights organization’s plans to rehabilitate two vacant buildings on the northwest corner of Main and Ferry Streets.
HOME will relocate its offices currently at 700 Main Street in the Theater District to the first floor of the building at 1542 Main and rehab the second and third floors of that and an adjoining structure into 10 units of barrier-free, energy-efficient affordable housing. A vacant adjoining parcel will be used to provide off-street parking.
The ‘Home for HOME’ project will alter the face of one of Main Street’s most visible intersections, replacing an worn building with a rehabilitated structure. Charles Gordon Architects is working on the rehab plans.
“This project has it all: architectural preservation, community development, affordable housing and a permanent home for the organization responsible for promoting residential diversity in Buffalo-Niagara,” said HOME Executive Director Scott W. Gehl in a written statement.
The Wendt Foundation grant represents the largest single donation to the $2.2 million project. With nearly $200,000 already committed, HOME is seeking funding from various state and federal government programs and will, in early-2008, formally announce a capital campaign.
With nearly 500 members, Housing Opportunities Made Equal is a civil rights organization whose mission is to assure the people of Western New York an equal opportunity to live in the housing and communities of their choice. It does so through education, advocacy, the enforcement of fair housing laws and the creation of housing opportunities.
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