Nearly 10 years of effort pays off this afternoon with groundbreaking ceremonies for the Richardson Olmsted Complex. The first phase of the $69-million reuse effort gets underway today.
The non-profit Richardson Center Corporation has been working long and hard to reach this point. That's according to Board Member Eva Hassett, who says today's groundbreaking marks the beginning of the transformation of the iconic Towers Building and its two flanking structures on the long vacant site of the former state facility that stands adjacent to Buffalo State College. The building will be renovated to include an 88 room hotel, a conference and event center and an architecture center showcasing Buffalo. The 30 acre site's landscaping and roadways are also being redone.
Hassett says "it's going to be a place that will celebrate the excellence that we have in Buffalo, in architecture, landscape architecture, city planning. It's really going to talk about both the history and the present day of what's so great about Western New York."
Hassett says the project is uniquely significant for several reasons including its connection to Noted American architect Henry Hobson Richardson and American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.
Hassett adds New York State pitched in 54-million-dollars for the project and the other 15-million is coming from historic preservation tax credits which have been leveraged by the state money.