The first steel is rising at the corner of Marine Drive and Commercial Street where Marine Drive apartment complex is being replaced with new housing. The project is being undertaken by the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority through its development entity, Bridges Development, and its partners, The Habitat Company and Duverney & Brooks. This first of three phases will consist of 254 units of affordable housing in 12- and seven-story towers and is being constructed on a former surface parking lot. In addition to apartments, this phase will feature an enclosed parking garage capable of accommodating 188 vehicles, as well as…
Author: WCPerspective
HSBC is taking additional office space in the Larkin District, adding to its existing presence in the neighborhood at the Larkin U Building. The new space is expected to open in early 2027 and reflects the bank’s continued and deepening commitment to Western New York, where HSBC employs more than 1,000. Buffalo is home to teams serving clients across wealth management, private banking, and corporate and institutional banking, and serves as the dollar clearinghouse for HSBC’s global network. The new space at the Exchange Building, 726 Exchange Street, spans approximately 31,000 square feet on the tenth floor under a 10-year…
Is 28 years long enough? The AM&As building has been a drag on downtown Buffalo since the short-lived Taylor’s Department Store closed in 1998. The building has symbolized both the promise and the frustration of downtown’s resurgence. The 350,000 sq.ft. behemoth occupies a pivotal position in the heart of downtown, next to M&T Bank’s headquarters, arguably our most important locally-based company. Reuse of the building would play a transformative role in bringing new energy, residents, and activity to a sleepy block of Main Street. Continued vacancy of the AM&A’s building remains one of the city’s most visible redevelopment challenges —…
Renovations on an historic building at 319 Connecticut Street are nearly complete and leasing at the West Side beauty is now underway. The circa-1890 building contains nine apartments and first floor commercial space. The project is being developed by Angelo Tomasello (The Locke Group) and Matt Green (Ryze Real Estate), in partnership with Nick DeMarco and Brady Phelps of Maverick Development. The development team purchased the property late last year from previous owners that started a long-needed rehab but ran into financial and contractor difficulties. “The Connecticut House features nine residential units along with a ground-floor commercial space that could…
It was a mixed bag for downtown development in 2025. On the bright side, developers are still constructing and proposing residential projects. Over 400 new residential units were added in the downtown area with twice as many currently under construction. Several much-anticipated projects are stalled however. The year ended without any sign of activity at Canalside’s Heritage Point, work has not started on the Statler’s upper floors, and the hoped for reactivation of the DL&W Terminal’s second level is now in limbo. The good news is that things are still happening. Below is a roundup of the development activity that…
Is the Old First Ward Buffalo’s next hot neighborhood? The stage is being set. The neighborhood, in the shadows of downtown and waterfront adjacent, is generally bound by Ohio Street on the west, Fitzgerald Street on the east, Perry Street on the north and the Buffalo River on the south. Take a look at what’s happening in this historic neighborhood and there’s reason for optimism. Ohio Street has seen significant investment including a major streetscape improvement project completed ten years ago and the opening of Buffalo River Fest Park, the Patrick Paladino Memorial Boathouse and the New York State boat…
It has been a long, bumpy road, but the first residential tenants are moving into Silo City this week. Developer Anthony Ceroy’s Generation Development Group’s conversion of the American Mill & Warehouse to a mix of residential and commercial space is nearly complete. Planning for the project started in 2018 and construction began in 2020. The building includes 168 residential apartments with studio to four-bedroom plans ranging in size from 405 to 1,910 sq. ft. of living space. It includes both affordable and market-rate units. Eight tenants are moving in this week and approximately 30 leases are pending. The development…
Buffalo’s affordable infill housing designs in recent years have been lackluster at best. Though BENLIC has stepped up with improved designs for its infill homes on Adams Street, in Riverside, and for scattered sites, the City and other affordable housing builders would be wise to look at what Rochester is building. The Rochester ‘Buy The Block’ program builds new single-family, high-quality homes in under-invested areas of the city. The homes are then sold to qualified first-time homebuyers who will spend no more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Ten home designs are offered ranging from a 1,033 sq.ft.…
The downtown office space market is still in the doldrums primarily due to flexible work policies stemming from the Covid pandemic. Remote work has resulted in many employers finding they have too much space for too few workers. While some companies have brought employees back into the office part or full-time, downtown’s occupancy rate continued to shrink last year according to an end-of-year analysis conducted by CBRE Upstate NY. Fewer office workers has had a severe impact on retail, restaurants and other downtown businesses. Downtown office occupancy fell by 330,152 sq.ft. last year. There is slightly over one million square…
Downtown development in 2024 was not one for the record books. In fact, the fewest projects were completed since I’ve been doing these recaps starting in 2007. Five projects were finished, eleven were announced, and nine were under construction at year end. It would be wise not to get too hung up on the numbers. There is still development happening, nearly all housing. We are also seeing larger projects with more units and some ground-up construction mostly on the fringes of downtown where land prices and parking are less of an issue. The office and hotel market is frozen. For…