The long-awaited plan to restore Fosdick Field and construct a state-of-the-art athletic facility could be back on track after it clears a hurdle.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has asked the Common Council to approve the closure and sale of city-owned Fosdick Avenue adjacent to City Honors School to Buffalo Public Schools for $1.
The sale is part of a multi-property site development for a long-awaited, state-of-the-art athletic facility at City Honors School.
The transaction is part of the redevelopment of the four-acre grassy land – formerly Fosdick Field – in front of City Honors into a new athletic facility.
But first, city lawmakers want a traffic study done to see what effect the road closure would have on the surrounding community.
Fosdick Avenue runs between Best and East North streets.
The intent was for Fosdick Field to benefit City Honors students during the school day, but after school be used for games by any of the district’s athletic teams, as well as for recreation for residents in the Fruit Belt neighborhood.
“We need to do a serious traffic study for the area because at dismissal and arrival, traffic is all over the place. We’ve got to figure out how that traffic is going to flow if that street is abandoned and where the traffic that is now allowed to park on that street, where they go into that neighborhood,” Council President Darius G. Pridgen said. “And right now we have people parking all the way down the block, down Masten, that pushes into the neighborhood, so it really needs a plan.
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“I want residents to know that is important to me not to just abandon the street.”
A public hearing on the closure and sale of the avenue will be held 2 p.m. Tuesday.
The former Fosdick-Masten H.S. athletic field closed in 1977 and the land was transferred to the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority.
BPS, BMHA and the City Honors/Fosdick-Masten Park Foundation have been in discussions for several years about returning the vacant property to its original use.
“We’re optimistic about it. We want to see the field happen,” general counsel Nathaniel Kuzma said, “but in fairness to the board – and the taxpayers – we’ve got to look at every angle before diving
The City Honors/Fosdick-Masten Park Foundation acquired the land from BMHA in 2016 for $2.05 million, with the intent of constructing a $3.5 million athletic facility that would include an all-weather field, scoreboard, landscaping and walking path around the property.
But the nonprofit couldn’t afford the $2.05 million payment that came due the summer of 2019. The housing agency was preparing to rescind the title.
But BPS agreed to step in and take ownership of the property from the foundation for $1.
Once the city completes the abandonment of Fosdick Avenue, the school district will proceed with the necessary steps to purchase the BMHA property and plan for the restoration of Fosdick Field, school district spokeswoman Elena Cala said.
Ultimately, Buffalo residents will be able to use the athletic fields at City Honors and other schools after hours.
There’s new life for Fosdick Field. The Buffalo Public Schools has agreed to step in and take ownership of the four acres of grassy land in front of City Honors School so it can be used for an athletic field and recreation, rather than revert back to the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority for other development. “We’re thrilled – beyond
"Community access is a key component of this project and the overall expanded partnership with the City of Buffalo Parks Department," Cala said.
BMHA Executive Director Gillian Brown said the $2 million from the sale of the land would be used for resident services such as opening a community center for tenants in North Buffalo or redeveloping Shaffer Village. The funds will not be used for salaries or regular operating expenses.
Fosdick Field was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1887 as part of a 10-acre park, with six of the acres later used to build Masten Park High School, which became Fosdick-Masten Park High School and is now City Honors.
The field was used for physical education, school district athletic events and by the neighborhood before the BMHA acquired the property in 1977 for construction of the Woodson Gardens housing development.
The housing, which eventually became rundown, was demolished in 2013, paving the way for the foundation to acquire the property.
