Sinatra & Company Real Estate and Essex Homes are working together to convert a former Cadet Cleaners storage facility into a new West Utica Apartment building in Elmwood Village of Buffalo, the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York and the seat of Erie County.
Sinatra had previously gotten the city’s approval to demolish the old brick structure, which is located at 169 W. Utica Street and has been vacant since 2016 but ended up rethinking their plans for demolition after facing several criticisms from preservationists.
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If the city approves this change of plans, the construction of the project, the cost of which is approximately US$ 7.2M, will reportedly start in the summer.
Overview of the new West Utica Apartment building
Designed by Silvestri Architects, a Buffalo-based company that provides schematic design, construction documents, and construction administration services, the new West Utica Apartment building is planned to have a total of 18 apartments and a 1000 square foot office space.
The residential units will be a mix of 14 one- and four two-bedroom apartments, with sizes ranging between 639 and 1,214 square feet. The designs show that four of the units will be two-story units and two others will have upstairs balconies, with a view overlooking the landscaped outdoor patio.
According to Matt Connor, Sinatra’s V.P of Development, at least 10% of the units in the West Utica Apartment building will be set aside for affordable housing and this will most likely be offered to households earning 80% or less of the area median income.
Subsidy for the project
The 45,000-square-foot 2 storey Cadet Cleaners Storage facility is seen as a “contributing structure” to the Elmwood Historic District (East) and the developers are trying to leverage this opportunity to get financial support for the redevelopment project.
Sinatra and Essex are also working with the National Park Service and seeking state and federal historic tax credits. According to Connor for now, they are still modeling some of the financial pieces and working on the affordable unit count.
