The University at Buffalo is moving its Educational Opportunity Center a few blocks north to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The Center will move to a new building to be constructed on a surface lot adjacent to the M. Wile building at Washington and Goodell streets. Details on the new building have not been released. UB is purchasing the former M. Wile building, now called Century Centre II, to be the new home for community outreach programs including its Regional Institute.
Officials have been looking for a replacement home for the Educational Opportunity Center for at least a decade. The current facility at the corner of Washington and E. Mohawk no longer meets the Center’s needs. The State will be providing funding towards the new building which is part of the University’s push to expand its presence downtown.
Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown hailed it as “great news for the City of Buffalo that less than a month after UB announced it was purchasing the former M. Wile building, President Simpson has announced plans to invest $26 million in construction on an adjacent block for its Educational Opportunity Center’s new home.”
The Educational Opportunity Center offers educational job training, college preparation and related support services to economically disenfranchised and academically disadvantaged populations in Western New York. The Center serves approximately 2,500 students annually.
UB officials have not announced what will happen to the current building when the center relocates in two years. The six-story, 72,000 sq.ft. brick building was built in 1930. Residential conversion anyone?
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