‘PART OF A LARGER WHOLE’: INVESTMENT IN EAST SIDE PROJECTS BIG AND SMALL CONTINUE TO PROGRESS

The Kensington and Central Terminal projects don’t reach other swaths of the East Side, but they address longtime needs called for by many in the city.

Among other state projects:

• The Northland Workforce Training Center, which opened in 2018, is moving into a third phase by adding more than 50,000 square feet of industrial space for expanded training programs in advanced manufacturing and clean energy.
• Some $40 million has been set aside by the state to create a revitalized Broadway Market. A business plan has been developed, and an announcement on next steps is expected in the coming weeks.
• Community improvement projects are underway along parts of Michigan, Bailey, Jefferson and Fillmore avenues, which began with $65 million under the Buffalo Billion economic program. The money is currently helping 22 small business owners with stabilization funds and 37 with storefront facade improvements. There are also grants for small businesses focused near the Tops on Jefferson Avenue.
• The city is complementing those projects by making improvements, with federal, state and city dollars, to Jefferson, Bailey and Michigan avenues and Main Street in phases through 2026.
• Nearly 80 East Side residents have been trained in a 26-week community-based real estate development course, with graduates eligible for a maximum grant of $50,000 in predevelopment funding.
• New greenhouses are coming to Martin Luther King Jr. Park, along with improved pathways and lighting, and a horticultural training program is planned for Buffalo Public Schools.
• The build-out of the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor on Michigan Avenue is continuing, with eight projects in the works.

  “The governor’s plan with the funding was anticipated to all work together to get some synergy together in key locations to grow and build the East Side,” said Paul Tronolone, Empire State Development’s vice president of policy and planning for Western New York. “Even though there are many different pieces, they are all part of a larger whole, when each one individually could have been considered a project in and of itself.”

  The bigger picture

  Funding from East Side Avenues, a public-private partnership that includes the University at Buffalo Regional Institute, has played an instrumental role in many of these projects.

  The approach is targeted to rejuvenate different areas on the East Side, Tronolone said.

  “You have anchors that are icons of the community, and create places that people can point to, like the Central Terminal,” he said. “Mix that with the plan for the corridors, and small business support, and facade improvements, and they build together to create a place with nodes of activity in various locations on the East Side.”

  Jackie Stover-Stitts and her husband, Larry, own Golden Cup Coffee Co. at 1362 Jefferson Ave., and have been beneficiaries of the East Side initiative. They are getting assistance in renovating a historic building they bought to expand coffee roasting with their own special blends, as well as the size of their coffee shop.

  “It’s really helped us to move off the dime and get the project started,” Stover-Stitts said. “We have had the building for a few years, and funding was difficult. Now there is interest in Jefferson and the general East Side, and organizations and groups are coming up with strategies to move forward and hopefully see some equity in the process.”

  Earlier this month, the Foundry and the Exchange at Beverly Gray announced a $3 million effort to help small businesses on the East Side. It’s funded by the Regional Revitalization Partnership, also heavily involved in the East Side initiatives.

  Northland expanding

  

   

  The creation of the Northland Avenue Beltline Corridor occurred in 2012 under Gov. Andrew Cuomo to bring job training and light industry to the East Side. The training center opened in 2018.To date, 1,088 students have enrolled at the Northland Workforce Training Center, 54% of whom are people of color and 8% of whom are women. The graduation rate is 62%, with 83% placed in jobs.

  “In the beginning there was a lot of skepticism, especially on the East Side, because there was mistrust of government and a lot of broken promises to community members,” said Stephen Tucker, training center president and CEO.

  Now, Northland is partnering with business, industry and career tech educational programs, he said.

  The Phase 3 expansion will include an expansion of Northland’s HVAC and auto tech programs.

  “Every dealership in town needs new technicians,” Tronolone said.

  Housing on the rise

  One of the biggest changes on the East Side is that affordable housing developments have become commonplace.

  They include the Forge housing complex on Broadway, Cedarland’s apartments on Michigan and its conversion of a former Eckerd drugstore on Broadway, Lyceum apartments on Swinburne and the Crossroads on Doat Street.

  The City of Buffalo has helped guide and invest in the developments.

  “A lot of this is driven by our focus on creating strong neighborhoods and commercial activities in East Buffalo,” said Brendan Mehaffy, executive director of the city Office of Strategic Planning. “We have pursued with our partners a multifaceted strategy focused on housing, small business, industrial redevelopment and public infrastructure.”

  Conrad Kickert, an associate architecture professor at the University at Buffalo with a background in urbanism, said one of the state’s projects he finds particularly encouraging is the planned Playter Gardens. Two developers are collaborating to build 73 residential units on 37 vacant lots on Playter Street, a short north-south street in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood with many empty city-owned lots.

  Kickert said the project is important because of the “missing tooth pattern” many streets have as the result of hundreds of demolitions.

  “The big ribbon cutters are the big existing buildings, but you have all over the place one lot, two lots, three lots,” he said. “So seeing things like Playter Gardens is as exciting as the Central Terminal, because Playter Gardens can be replicated elsewhere on the East Side.”