Author: Mike Puma

The Central Terminal Neighborhood Association (CTNA), a block club reestablished this year, has released its Broadway Fillmore 2032: A Vision for Neighborhood Restoration. The timing is good. The State has made East Buffalo revitalization a priority with two neighborhood anchors receiving money to kick-start renovation plans: $37 million for the Broadway Market and $61 million for the Central Terminal. The document, available here, is the result of a visioning workshop conducted by the Central Terminal Neighborhood Association on March 26, 2022. “Broadway Fillmore 2032 is a community-based blueprint to restore our venerable neighborhood,” said Chris Hawley of the CTNA. “It is…

Eugene V. Debs Hall is partnering with Subversive Theatre Collective and Buffalo DSA to inaugurate its annual May Day celebration on Sunday, May 1, 4 to 10 pm, at 483 Peckham Street. The *original* Labor Day, May Day is the international workers’ holiday celebrated just about everywhere on the planet except in the country where it originated: the United States of America. “Eugene V. Debs Hall is helping restore a great American tradition in May Day,” says Chris Hawley of Eugene V. Debs Hall, the not-for-profit social hall and restored pre-Prohibition tavern on Peckham Street. “Buffalo’s first May Day demonstration took place in 1895, and Eugene…

Although it may have seemed like radio silence for a little bit, it’s time for an update about the Monroe Building (formerly Record Theatre) redevelopment. The investor group led by Jason Yots of Common Bond Real Estate, which includes Preservation Studios and Urban Vantage, have refined their plans to offer 20 apartments along with about 12,000 square feet of commercial space. “Even before COVID-19 arrived in New York, we were re-thinking the large commercial project we had on the board,” said Yots, “After the virus hit, it became obvious that we needed to pivot to a more diversified program anchored by…

Buffalo Obscura, an arts collaborative still at work with social distance-friendly “events” during the pandemic, is presenting monthly installations at the Lafayette Avenue window of the Record Theatre, 1786 Main Street. The Record Theatre series began in October with the work of photographer Rachele Schneekloth, whose installation titled “In This Together” looked at the “dignity and power and humanity” all around Buffalo, with a focus on the city’s “complex, brave, beautiful, wise, vulnerable people, with full, rich lives.” Wrapping up this month, and still on display as of today, is Miggie Wong’s “Lightened Record Theater,” an installation celebratrating the power…

LISC WNY will be hosing their first ever Equitable Neighborhood Development Summit, which will take place virtually on Saturday, October 3, 2020 from 8:30 am – 4:00 pm. The summit is a discussion with community development partners and residents, exploring how neighborhoods can gain health and wealth through investment and development efforts in their communities, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “New investments are needed to get the economy moving and help people back to work. LISC believes that the voices of neighborhood residents and businesses can and should drive the decision making for those investments,” says Julie Barrett O’Neill, Executive…

Rest in Power: Casimer Mazurek Gravestone Rededication, is an event to rededicate the gravestone of Casimer Mazurek, the decorated World War veteran killed by Lackawanna Steel Company police in the opening days of the Great Steel Strike of 1919. The event, sponsored by the Eugene V. Debs Local Initiative and WNY Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, will take place on the 101 year anniversary of the strike’s calling on September 21, 1919. Casimer Mazurek Gravesite Division 15, Holy Cross Cemetery Lackawanna, NY Monday, September 21, 5:30-6:30 pm “Casimer Mazurek is perhaps Buffalo’s greatest symbol of the sacrifices made to secure dignity…

Work to remove the EIFS covering at 1762-66 Main Street has proceed rapidly over the last two weeks since the initial post about the buildings sale to the Monroe Building redevelopment team. “The coverings on 1762 and 1766 Main hid what were in their day, very handsome storefront buildings,” said Jack Nossavage who has done some preliminary research into the buildings for Common Bond Real Estate. “Many people probably didn’t realize that 1762 Main was actually designed by renowned Buffalo architect, Louise Blanchard-Bethune.”  1762 was built for Henry Bald, the son of a prominent Alsatian immigrant, who opened a meat market…

Window Shopping: Art Pop Up is a multiple-venue, one-week-only series of installations on view from July 24 through July 31 at 13 locations across the City of Buffalo. Artists will showcase place-based work created during the COVID-19 pandemic. Buffalo Obscura has worked with artists to fill storefront windows, some active and some vacant, with art that can be approached safely by citizens on their own time. In partnership with Buffalo Bike Tours , Buffalo Obscura has designed Window Shopping’s installation locations to be easily accessible to cyclists and pedestrians. “Window Shopping will explore the places that matter to us at…

The development team that plans to rehab the Monroe Building (Record Theatre) acquired the remaining portion of the complex, located just south of Lafayette Avenue. The group is led by Jason Yots of Common Bond Real Estate LLC, along with Mike Puma and Derek King of Preservation Studios LLC, as well as Rich Rogers and Travis Gordon of Urban Vantage LLC. The purchaser, 1762 Main LLC, acquired the three-building complex and adjoining parking lot from The Estate of Leonard Silver for $200,000. Todd Danni of Envision Real Estate brokered the sale late last week. Plans call for the rehabilitation of…

Window Shopping: Art Pop Up is a multiple-venue, one-week-only series of installations on view from July 24 through July 31 at 13 locations across the City of Buffalo. Artists will showcase place-based work created during the COVID-19 pandemic. Buffalo Obscura has worked with artists to fill storefront windows, some active and some vacant, with art that can be approached safely by citizens on their own time. In partnership with Buffalo Bike Tours, Buffalo Obscura has designed Window Shopping’s installation locations to be easily accessible to cyclists and pedestrians. “Window Shopping will explore the places that matter to us at a…