This article was originally featured in Buffalo Rising on July 7, 2017. To view the original article, click here.
The redevelopment of 500 Seneca Street is paying off in multiple ways. Not only is the former box manufacturing complex home to multiple commercial tenants and 97 apartments, it is paying for streetscape work along Seneca Street.
500 Seneca was developed by Frontier Group of Companies and Savarino Companies. The building was originally constructed in 1901 as the headquarters of the F.N. Burt Company. Today, the 325,000 sq.ft. complex has been transformed into a mixed-use property featuring 97 apartments as well as 180,000 square feet of office and retail space.
Property taxes generated by 500 Seneca will be utilized by the City to fund infrastructure improvements along Seneca Street between Michigan Avenue – through and around 500 Seneca – to just east of Hamburg Street. It will connect to the street improvements completed on Seneca Street in Larkinville. The unique Pilot Increment Financing vehicle was sponsored by the City of Buffalo and the Erie County Industrial Development Agency.
“This work will really tie in and link downtown and Larkinville,” says Luke Cusack, property manager at Savarino Companies.
Seneca will be two travel lanes with on-street parking on both sides. Work includes:
Seneca Street between Michigan Avenue and Louisiana Street
- ADA sidewalk ramps, light poles and luminaires, and curb and sidewalk repair
Seneca Street between Louisiana Street and the Seneca Street bridge at Swan Street
- ADA sidewalk ramps, light poles and luminaires, and curb and sidewalk repair
- Pavement Milling and Overlay
- Installation of planter boxes, benches, and trash receptacles
Spring Street between Myrtle and Seneca
- Slightly widen street and install new curb
- Pavement Milling and Overlay
Myrtle Avenue between Spring and Hamburg streets
- ADA sidewalk ramps, light poles and luminaires, and curb and sidewalk repair
- Installation of planter boxes, benches, and trash receptacles
Hamburg Street between Swan and Seneca streets
- Pavement Milling and Overlay
- ADA sidewalk ramps and curb and sidewalk repair
The targeted Seneca Street corridor has seen a significant amount of investment stretching from the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum at the corner of Seneca and Michigan to the cluster of redevelopment projects at Seneca and Hamburg streets and Larkinville beyond. The growing list of projects along Seneca Street includes:
- Ellicott Development’s 192 Seneca and 270 Michigan Avenue with commercial space and 10 apartments. Underway.
- 474 Seneca, a three-story building with ground floor retail and two apartments by Derek and Laura Sullivan. Proposed.
- Seneca Street Lofts at 550 Seneca Street contains 41 market-rate apartments and 18,500 sq.ft. of office space. Frontier Group of Companies. Complete.
- AP Lofts at 545 Swan Street. 147 affordable and market-rate apartments by KCG Development. Underway.
The apartments at 500 Seneca Street, Hydraulic Lofts, are 97 percent leased.
“The market has held up even with all of the new projects coming online,” says Savarino’s Cusack. “There have been substantial investments along the corridor in recent years. The upcoming streetscape work will be the complement that ties it all together.”
LaBella Associates is engineer for the infrastructure project. Bids are due July 19.
