Renovation plans for a large vacant building just off the I-190, in South Buffalo, are moving forward.
The former Tyson meat processing plant on Perry Street at Van Rensselaer has been acquired by U-Haul.
"It's a tall task. But we're going to make it great," said Todd Schnitzer. He's the president of U-Haul Company of Western New York and says the adaptive reuse of the 165,000-square-foot facility only makes sense.
"To demolish a building and build ground up you're just creating unneeded waste. There's already a great building built. It was built to last. It's in good shape. It was maintained by the prior owners. So it gives us walls to build within and just use what's there," Schnitzer said.
Along with a full-service store with moving supplies and truck and trailer rentals, Schnitzer says, the facility will offer hundreds of climate controlled self-storage units.
"It's all controlled access. Drive in load, unload, so you're not out in the elements trying to unload into storage. You actually get right inside the building. Obviously we're in Buffalo so we don't want to sit through the winter and rain storms trying to take our household possessions out and put them into a building," Schnitzer said.
It'll be the company's largest facility in the area. And the lifelong resident says there's easy access to the Thruway, downtown and Larkinville.
"The growth down there is unbelievable. Finally it's got some life. It's starting to come in. And hopefully it reaches the potential of what it can be. And we're going to be right in the thick of it for the people that are moving downtown into the new lofts and apartments that are being built. And then also for the people that live in the area already that had nothing down there before," Schnitzer said.
He expects to create about 20 new jobs and says U-Haul Moving and Storage at Larkin District will be fully operational by the end of summer.