The push for new apartments in downtown Buffalo appears to be moving farther and farther out from the Central Business District.
Ellicott Development is planning new townhouses and potentially another high-rise on the waterfront.
But the two projects it just took to the Zoning Board of Appeals were "brownfields," a building at Niagara and Busti vacant for 20 years and a vacant field on Ohio Street unused for far longer. That's a plan which might take some years, to gradually fill the space between the Buffalo Scholastic Rowing Association and a new city park.
Ellicott's Development Director, Thomas Fox, said the plan reflects major changes on the Buffalo River.
"Just to the north there, just to the northwest, really, you have RiverWorks. A lot of activity along the river the past few years, the kayaking, that sort," Fox said. "It's a great time to bring this project to fruition."
On the other side of the rowing club, developer Sam Savarino is putting 78 units on the site of the old Erie Freight House. Both projects will be renting next year when the city's mammoth rebuilding of Ohio Street is done, making it a better street to live along.
