It took just under two years and $48 million to turn an open field in the curl of the end ramp of the Kensington Expressway into the new headquarters for Catholic Health System.
Uniland Development Vice President Michael Montante says the company had owned the Gateway to Buffalo site for years but didn't have the right tenant until Catholic Health came along.
On Thursday, the official ribbon was cut for the complex, with Catholic Bishop Richard Malone blessing the facility.
President and CEO Joe McDonald says it's a great addition to the neighborhood just off the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. McDonald thanked Mayor Brown and Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes for their help and the $4 million which helped make it possible.
"Mayor Brown and Crystal Peoples took a unique interest in supporting us and I want to really express my personal appreciation. During the time when I was selling you the vision of what this was about I made commitments to you about employment, about the makeup of our associates here and I want you to hold me accountable to hit or exceed those targets and provide new opportunities for our local neighbors to become associates at Catholic Health."
The location is also a return to history since it's only a few blocks from where the Sisters of Charity came here and started Buffalo's first hospital 166-years ago. That turned into Sisters Hospital, now a core element of Catholic Health.
