Ellicott Development Company is seeking to demolish the Our Lady of Lourdes rectory and school at Main Street and St. Paul Mall. The Buffalo Preservation Board will consider the request at its Thursday meeting. A “large multi-story building” is proposed for the site.
In 2009, Ellicott Development purchased the adjacent convent and school from Prayer & Praise Fellowships Inc. for $370,000. One year later the company bought the church at 1115 Main Street in April for $40,000 from 1115 Main Street Inc. The circa-1898 church near Best Street was closed in 1993. In recent years Ellicott has also been buying residential properties on St. Paul Mall demolishing nearly all of the block (below).
The two-story rectory and three-story school total just under 30,000 sq.ft. on a .63 acre lot. This stretch of Main Street has seen a significant uptick in developer activity lately and is on the edge of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
According to the Preservation Board agenda, Ellicott would like to:
Redevelop the northeast corner of Main Street and St. Paul Mall. As part of the development they will demolish the former rectory and school building and one additional house (47 St. Paul Mall) on site to construct a large multi-story building.
Ellicott sought to demolish the rectory in 2010 but pulled the application before it was considered by the Preservation Board.