Priority Issue: Living Downtown

Developing Downtown Buffalo as a vibrant and inviting residential neighborhood has been a top priority for Downtown since the very first Downtown Summit in 1994. Downtown constituents now clearly understand that people living Downtown can bring life to the streets weekdays and weekends, day and night, year around.

The Watkins Building

 Three new housing projects went on Downtown Buffalo 2002! agenda for “Living Downtown.” The first was a small, six-unit, Pan-American era apartment building on Chippewa Street just west of South Elmwood, purchased and rehabilitated by Heart of the City Neighborhoods, Inc., Downtown housing organization. Construction on the Watkins Building was completed in summer 2001 and the property is now occupied.

The Belasario

 The adaptive re-use transformation of the former L. L. Berger department store to a mixed-use residential and commercial project is well under way. The third through the eighth floor of the buildings will be rental housing. The first two floors are now in commercial use. Demolition, asbestos remediation, and design are all complete. Construction of 29 residential units should be completed before the end of 2002.

Century Center I

160 market-rate units are also planned for the fifth, sixth, and seventh floors of the former Trico building at Goodell and Ellicott Streets. The developer is now applying for historic preservation tax credits, working on the building shell and core, and preparing construction drawings for the residential elements of the mixed-use project. Completion is projected for 2004.

New York State Building Code

A fourth priority project was added to the “Living Downtown” agenda in 2001-reform of the New York State Building Code. Downtown constituents identified the building code as an important barrier to the adaptive reuse of older buildings for housing. When a review by the State Fire Prevention and Building Codes Council was commenced, the City of Buffalo participated heavily.

The result was the adoption of the International Building Code by New York State. It will become law later this year. Among other effects, the adoption of “Schedule K” on existing buildings could reduce the cost of adaptive reuse by three to eight percent. It is also expected that additional local building code requirements may be reevaluated in light of the adoption of the International code with further simplification of code review and permit processes likely.

Buffalo R/UDAT 2001

In March 2001, the American Institute of Architects sent to Buffalo a Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team, including nationally recognized architects, planners, designers, and developers, to take a fresh look at a housing strategy for Downtown Buffalo. They emphasized the need to build clusters of housing to create life on the street and generate attendant service retail. They stressed the need to make links between Downtown housing and surrounding inner neighborhoods.

The members of the R/UDAT team saw that subsidies, permit reforms, and technical assistance to developers would be necessary to “prime the pump” for new projects. They thought a mix of housing prices for a mix of incomes would help create a better Downtown neighborhood. And they stressed the importance of quality. The team identified a number of potential clusters: The Theater District, the 700 Block of Main Street, and E. Genesee Street as well as the triangle bound by Niagara, Elmwood, and Mohawk, and the east end of Lafayette Square.

The effort to develop an exciting, attractive Downtown neighborhood seems to be gaining momentum. Developer interest is growing. New projects are on the horizon. And the demand for Downtown housing is still bigger than supply.

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