Plans for the relocation of the Buffalo City Mission from Tupper Street to Swan Street have been scuttled. Sources say the City Mission Board of Directors has voted against moving to 545 Swan Street on the edge of Larkinville, east of downtown. Why the Board decided against the move has been the subject of considerable speculation within the development community today.
The City Mission has occupied its building at the corner of Tupper and Ellicott streets since 1984. The heavily-used shelter is located at the southern end of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. City Mission officials were reportedly open to selling its property if a suitable alternative location was made available.
That offer came in last month when a development group headed by Rocco Termini proposed renovating the A&P Warehouse complex at 545 Swan Street. Under a $42 million reuse plan prepared by architecture, engineering and interior design firm Carmina Wood Morris, the eight-story building would have given the City Mission a new facility along with room for expanded services including transitional housing units. Additional income-restricted apartments were planned geared to tenants making up to 60 percent of area median income.