The former Freezer Queen building on Buffalo's Outer Harbor that was going to be converted into luxury apartments, will instead be demolished to make way for a new 23-story high rise if revised plans by developer Gerry Buchheit are approved.
Buchheit and his partners bought the Fuhrmann Boulevard property next to the Small Boat Harbor in 2007. His Queen City Landing project originally included the adaptive reuse of the six-story building that was once a frozen food production plant.
New plans call for the construction of a 23-story tower and a second, low building extending out from the tower's base. The complex will include about 200 apartments, two restaurants, protected parking for more than 300 cars, and outdoor amenities that will "not only help residents cope with the winter, but actually enjoy it," according to Trautman Associates architect Timothy Rider.
Rider hopes the first residents can move in by the end of 2017. "There's a lot of approvals in process that need to be accomplished," he said. "There's a lot of design work that needs to happen." He says the ownership is very eager to get started, and the approval process in City Hall has started.
Rider says lessons about winter construction learned during the building of HarborCenter should benefit their project. Special experts are working on planning foundations on land that was once part of the lake.
The original project was estimated to cost $40 million dollars. The revised plan is expected to have a much larger budget.
