After months of infighting and a series of often-contentious public meetings, the city Planning Board Monday approved construction of the Canterbury Woods senior housing project on Gates Circle.
Approval followed the latest plan for the building exterior which replaced all of the planned metal panels for brick at a cost around $250,000.
"We have a better product now than we had before and that's what's supposed to happen. So, we appreciate that, said Lancaster Avenue Block Club President Gretchen Cercone in offering praise for the Planning Board.
"We did a lot of work this weekend when the indications were that we were not going to have an opportunity really to see the new materials or have a chance to have Olmsted to really look at the materials and review them. We did a lot of scrambling this weekend to try to see where we had consensus."
Not everyone is happy with the approval.
The board also approved the various divisions of the rest of the property which will be developed by TM Montante over the next few years.
"These buildings are very expensive to build," said Canterbury Woods President and CEO Robert Wallace of the $41 million project.
"This isn't a residential building like an apartment building. This is a life care community. And as such, it has to include a lot of amenities actually required by the New York State Department of Health. So, this is a building that is not just your average building."
Wallace says construction will start next month with workers spending long days and hours on the site removing the debris from the implosion of the old Millard Fillmore Hospital.
