Article via Buffalo Rising
By wcperspective
With the apartment market red hot, Ellicott Development Company is dusting off plans to put residential units in a four-story commercial building at 960 Busti Avenue. The company purchased the site in April 2008 along with a nearby property at 1050 Niagara Street from Ciminelli Development.
The circa-1930, 56,000 sq.ft. building is north of the Peace Bridge and overlooks the Niagara River. It was home to General Electric until about 1968 when Multiform Desiccants occupied the building until 1995. The building has been vacant for the past 20 years.
A reuse plan for the property prepared several years ago called for 23 residential units and commercial space. The new plan submitted to the City calls for 18 apartments on the third and fourth floors. The first two levels would include approximately 27,500 sq.ft. of commercial and retail space.
Ellicott Development is working with the State Historic Preservation Office to complete the renovations in a way that enhances the historic nature of the circa 1930 building. According to the project application, this involves “cleaning and restoring the exterior masonry where needed, replacing in-kind the existing windows on the west elevation, cutting in new window openings on the south elevation, restoring the original wood windows on the east elevation, and reopening previously in-filled window openings on the north elevation. The former first floor loading bays on the east elevation will be in-filled with a storefront glass system. In addition, a new handicap ramp and industrial style canopy will be added on the east elevation to accompany the building’s new main entrance which will be located within one of the former loading bays.”
“The adaptive reuse of this vacant building will add to the recent momentum seen in this section of the city by adding a mix of new residential and commercial tenants to the neighborhood,” said Ellicott Development’s Director of Development Thomas Fox.
Ellicott Development has recently completed new residential units on Franklin Street downtown, on Main Street in midtown, and in The Fairmont in the Cobblestone District. The company is seeking approvals for nine new for-sale townhouses in Waterfront Village, is planning a mixed-use building at 905 Elmwood, and will soon be submitting plans for a five-story, mixed-use building on Ohio Street along the Buffalo River. Just north of the Busti project Street, Ellicott Development is proposing a two-story retail and residential building anchored by Tim Hortons at 1088 Niagara Street.
