Economic development ranked among the top five priorities at the December 1999 Summit and was strongly supported in surveys as well as written reviews of the Downtown Buffalo Strategic Plan. As with housing, much of this focused on developing and coordinating tools to facilitate business growth. Also raised were the renovation of several downtown buildings as hotel, retail, and office space. Success in this category will be based on several measures, including beneficial occupancy of commercial space, decreased vacancy rates, and retention and expansion of workforce in diverse labor categories. The ultimate goal of these projects is to improve the economic health of downtown. Downtown Buffalo 2002! is currently tracking four projects in this category. Two of the four projects involve the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of the current building stock.

See the most recent newsletter for the most up-to-date information on "Working Downtown" projects.

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