The Buffalo Urban Development Corp. is raking in the grant money, as the quasi-governmental agency pursues redevelopment efforts on both the East and West sides of Buffalo, at the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park and the Northland Corridor.
BUDC said Tuesday that it has received a grant of $4.662 million from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation to start construction work on part of the Centennial Park project.
The nonprofit agency will use the fourth grant from the Wilson Foundation to hire Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates to prepare construction documents and drawings in preparation for the work to begin. The firm will also begin placing fill material for the approaches to the planned new pedestrian bridge, and purchase granite blocks for use throughout the park.
The front door to Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park will connect the Lakeview neighborhood through a new safe and accessible pedestrian and biking bridge.
Meanwhile, BUDC is also applying for a $3 million federal grant from the Economic Development Administration, under the U.S. Commerce Department, to support its $12 million rehab of a 41,000-square-foot facility at 631 Northland. That’s adjacent to the main Northland Central complex at 683 Northland.
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Also on Tuesday, BUDC:
• Authorized Gardiner & Theobald, the project manager for the Centennial Park initiative, to complete additional cost-estimating work for design development, at a cost of $32,000. The work had been slated for a different firm, so this will actually save BUDC $83,000 in the end.
• Granted an extension of its $750,000 Buffalo Building Reuse Project loan to Nick Sinatra’s Phoenix Brewery Apartments project. The three-year loan was originally due in February 2019, but has been extended twice. The latest action will push the balloon payment until Feb. 28, 2021, while raising the interest rate from 5.5% to 6.5%.
Phoenix Brewery Apartments, 835 Washington St.: Sinatra & Company Real Estate; 30 apartments. Project cost: $6.6 million. Monthly rent: $1,500-$2,000. Nick Sinatra renovated the four-story vacant building on the edge of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus into 31 residential apartments and commercial space. The building has a fitness facility and a hair salon on the first floor. There are also 24 indoor parking spaces, bike and tenant storage and a rooftop deck.
