Ciminelli Real Estate has agreed to be the City of Buffalo's "designated developer" for the 201 Ellicott Street project. The site, across from the Hotel Lafayette, has been a city-owned parking lot for decades. Company President and CEO Paul Ciminelli says now the design work on the mixed-use building can begin. Ciminelli says he expects the housing will be in high demand.
"This is one of the first fairly large-size projects where new construction of apartments has happened. These buildings that surround this site right now, most have been historic tax credit adaptive reuse projects, which is great. But to have the first real new-builds of any size or scope, it really excites us. And then to compliment that with some office, parking and retail, we're very excited about that," Ciminelli said.
The project's details, Ciminelli says, should be ready in about six months. Tops has been named the "preferred grocery store" for the project.