Larkin District Expansion

Name: Larkin District Expansion
Status: Planned
Estimated Completion: 2009
Use: Office
Developer: CityView Properties
Architect: Young Architectural, LLC
Height:
Floors: 2 & 3

Description:
Last June, CityView Properties unveiled a vision for the properties the firm quietly has been buying surrounding their Larkin at Exchange Building. Next week, the first phase of their Larkin District plan will be presented to the Buffalo Planning Board. According to the News, the $10 million, three-story, 75,000 sq.ft. retail and office complex will be constructed at the intersection of Seneca, Exchange and Smith streets. CityView’s LCo Building Development LLC purchased the 1.4 acre site for $400,000 in May 2004. A warehouse on the property (entry image) has been demolished.
CityView raised eyebrows in 2002 when the developer purchased the mammoth circa-1912 Larkin Co. warehouse at the corner of Van Rensselaer and Exchange Streets after being vacated by Graphic Controls. Over the next two years, the developer spent over $12 million transforming the 10-story, 600,000 sq.ft. building into a multi-tenant office facility. It was not without risk. Though located just one half mile from Main Street, the area was not a proven office location. The investment has paid off as the building is now 98 percent occupied and hosts 1800 employees on a daily basis.
Long-term plans for the area include additional office buildings, retail, and residential space. Elsewhere, the developer is currently working on plans to renovate the long-dormant Genesee Block downtown.

Buffalo Federal Courthouse

Name: Buffalo Federal Courthouse
Status: Underway
Estimated Completion: 2010
Use: Other
Developer: Federal General Services Administration
Architect: Kohn Pederson Fox of New York and Grand Island's Cannon Design
Height:
Floors: 10

Description:
The new building will house a number of courts and judicial chambers that are currently housed in the cramped Dillion Federal Courthouse on Court Street.
Higgins estimated it will take between 33 months and 36 months to construct the courthouse. The first wave of court personnel will likely move into the building by mid-2010

Queen City Landing

Name: Queen City Landing
Status: Planned
Estimated Completion: 2010
Use: Residential & Hotel
Developer: Ontario Specialty Contracting
Architect: TBD
Height: 5
Floors:

Description:
Preliminary plans for the multiphase project include:

-Conversion of the existing six-story, 272,000-square-foot food production and storage plant to condominiums, possibly adding two more floors to create luxury penthouse suites.
- A 250- to 400-room, fivestar hotel tower, to be built on the tip of the mini-peninsula.
- A residential tower and townhouses on undeveloped areas of the property.

“Our objective is to move as fast as the process allows. We’d love to have a model condo ready by next summer,” Buchheit said.

Mayor Byron W. Brown called the ambitious makeover proposal “intriguing,” and a “sign of the times,” for the city’s long-under-utilized waterfront.

“It opens the door to what we expect to happen out there,” Brown said. “Other investors and developers are looking at the outer harbor, and they will be watching this closely.”

The Queen City Landing team said its plans are not contingent on other projects, or creation of critical mass.

“We want to be the first kid on the block. This project stands on its own,” Williams said.

Portions from The Buffalo News.

Buffalo Creek Casino

Name: Buffalo Creek Casino
Status: Planned
Estimated Completion: 2010
Use: Hotel
Developer: Seneca Gaming Corporation
Architect: SOSH Architects
Height:
Floors: 22

Description:
The Seneca Nation of Indians is weighing an expanded Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino that would include a luxury hotel — boosting the price tag for the permanent gambling complex to more than $275 million. A 200-plus-room luxury hotel has been added to the development, more than doubling the $125 million price tag announced in 2006, according to sources familiar with modifications in the Cobblestone District project.

Sycamore Village neighborhood

Name: Sycamore Village neighborhood
Status: Underway
Estimated Completion: Spring 2008
Use: Residential
Developer: City of Buffalo
Architect:
Height: N/A
Floors: N/A

Description:
The plan for the new Sycamore Village is a pedestrian friendly, park like community of 24 new homes, 20 market rate homes, and 4 low to moderate-income units.

Remediation efforts at Sycamore Village included the demolition of three existing structures, and New York State contributed over $1 million to the remediation of the Sycamore Village site. Road and infrastructure work at the site is close to completion, including Sydni Lane. The first phase of construction has started and is expected to be completed in the spring of 2008.

A “First Look at Sycamore Village” open house was held recently, with close to one hundred people expressing interest in the twenty-four homes. Of the twenty- four homes, four are reserved for low- to moderate-income level residents, which will be chosen via a lottery system.