A nearly 100-year-old Buffalo school building on Olympic Avenue that has been vacant for years will soon be transformed into an affordable housing complex.
Gov. Kathy Hochul was among dignitaries who attended the ceremonial groundbreaking at the former Public School 78 in the Kensington-Bailey neighborhood.
"This project is going to be a model for other communities to see what can happen," Hochul told a small crowd inside the school. PS 78, built in 1927, "was an abandoned school that sat here for many years – just an eyesore. A place that people looked at and said, 'Why is that happening? Doesn't our community deserve better than this?' Today is the day we say yes it does."
Hochul said the development, which will be named the Olympic Avenue Apartments, is an example of the kind of affordable housing she wants to offer across the state. Her budget proposal includes a plan for $25 billion to create 100,000 units of affordable housing.
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Webster-based CDS Monarch was selected for the $19 million project, which includes 46 affordable housing units, most of them one-bedroom apartments that will be available to people with households earning at or below 60 percent of the area median income. Eight apartments will be set aside for residents who have disabilities.
The school's auditorium will become a community space to be used by local nonprofits. The gym will be turned into a fitness center for residents. Construction is set to be completed by around spring 2023.
