New housing will be going up soon on the site of the former Central Park Plaza on Buffalo's East Side. LPCiminelli, Mayor Byron Brown and community leaders broke ground Wednesday on the $90 million Highland Park project.
Plans include a mix of rental apartments and for-sale homes and townhomes. LPCiminelli Senior Vice President John Ciminelli says it's a transit-oriented development.
"When we laid out the infrastructure, roadwork network for the project, we worked with the NFTA to be able to reestablish the bus routes that used to come through the plaza. Not only will the buses come through the new development we're also really only about a third of a mile walk, or quarter-mile walk, to the Amherst Street station of the subway," Ciminelli said.
When it's complete, the development near E. Amherst St. and Main St., will include about 600 new units. Ciminelli says he believes the project will help revitalize the area.
"It's a perfect opportunity to stitch this neighborhood back together, not only with the network of streets, but to provide the new housing stock that will generate new investment in this neighborhood," Ciminelli said.
Site infrastructure improvements, including the extension of Chalmers Avenue, are already complete. Phase I of construction, he says, starts next week. Initial occupancy is expected by the summer of 2018.