Two of Buffalo’s busiest developers are teaming up to bring forty senior apartments to a Kensington Avenue site. David Pawlik of Creative Structures Services and Nick Sinatra of Sinatra & Company Realty are planning the three-story, $5.2 million senior housing development at 240 Kensington Avenue. The Planning Board approved the project earlier this week.
“Both of our companies have committed to an extensive amount of work on the East Side and have been talking for a few years about working together but have both been busy with other projects,” says Pawlik. “Things started to came together after my company finished up work on the True Bethel Senior Apartment project on nearby E. Ferry Street. Nick loved the design and we started to look at other sites for a similar complex . The City-owned site on Kensington made sense for a senior housing project.”
Ten of the units will be geared towards households making 60 to 80 percent of area median income. The balance of the units will be market-rate. The apartments will be large, ranging from 825 to 950 sq.ft. Silvestri Architects is designing the project.
“It is going to be beautiful, state-of-the-art, and something to be proud of,” promises Pawlik.
The vacant 6.16-acre property is the site of the former Hewitt Robins crushing and vibrating equipment plant and will undergo an environmental cleanup to residential standards. The senior housing complex will only occupy a portion of the site. Pawlik says they are working with an organization on a second phase component but said it is too early to divulge any details.
“We can’t go public yet but it will fill a need and void in the community and will be complementary to the senior housing project,” he says.
Pawlik did say it will not be residential and hopes to have an announcement in six to eight weeks.
The development team is aiming to start work in September and have its first residents move in next spring.
Sinatra & Company has been active in the midtown area of Main Street with its Fenton Village and Midtown Apartment projects and is said to be looking at other projects nearby. Creative Structures Services is wrapping up work on Seneca Street Lofts in the Larkin District, has just started work on the 30-unit Bellamy Commons senior housing project on Jefferson Avenue, and is planning a 16-unit residential project at 347 E. Ferry Street.