The Massachusetts Avenue Project is moving ahead with a plan to construct a new "farmhouse" on its space at 387 Massachusetts Avenue, a project that now has the formal approval of the Buffalo Planning Board.
The larger wooden structure will replace the house currently sitting on the space and give MAP staff more space to conduct their multifaceted work, which includes a summer program that involves local young people with food production and lessons in community activism.
"They also have their offices on Grant Street, so it'll consolidate all of their space in one location," said project architect Kevin Connors of eco_logic STUDIO. "And they'll have new facilities. They'll have teaching kitchens, so they can teach both the kids and residents how to prepare meals with some of the food they produce on site."
Connors said the hope is to begin work in the fall, breaking ground and beginning demolition of the existing house. He went before the Buffalo Planning Board on Tuesday for the second time in a month. The project had the board's immediate support but finally gained approval this week after Connors and MAP officials completed necessary steps including the permit process.
