BUFFALO, N.Y. — Developer Douglas Jemal took a walking tour with city officials and reporters on Wednesday of the area where he envisions the building of businesses and apartments as part of an "Electric District" downtown.
The centerpiece of the project will be his plan to purchase and convert the city's Mohawk Parking Ramp into a mixed-use hub that will include housing, parking, commercial space, and street-level retail.
According to the city, the plan calls for Jemal to purchase the more than 60-year-old ramp for $3 million, then spend another $45 million at the Mohawk Parking Ramp site to add six stories to the ramp, including four stories of residential and two stories of parking, boosting the number of spaces from 627 to approximately 900 spaces.
Last year Jemal purchased eight properties from the Simon Elecric company, including buildings and vacant lots.
Now he says it's time fix the old buildings, and construct new ones, to create a district several blocks long, which he envisions will be jammed packed with residents and businesses.
A busy man
These days it might be easier to list big ticket developments that Jemal is "not" involved in, than the numerous ones he is.
But despite having so many irons the fire, he doesn't think he's overextended, and neither does the city, which says it if did, it wouldn't have chosen him to be the designated developer of the City-owned parking ramp site.
"In our due diligence, obviously that was part of what we were trying to figure out," said the city's commissioner of economic development, Brendan Mehaffy, noting that Jemal was chosen over five other development teams, which submitted proposals in 2021 to reimagine the 1.1-acre Mohawk Parking Ramp site.
"I think it might be hard to understand locally, but in any given year, Douglas Development has 3 million square feet under construction. Not under ownership but actually under construction, so that's the equivalent of three Seneca One towers (which Jemal also owns)," Mehaffy said.
According to the city, Douglas Development also plans to invest more than $110 million in the former Simon properties, adjacent to the Mohawk site, where it will create an additional 600 residential units, including 15 percent affordable units.
One of the first steps in the process is already underway, with crews conducting stress testing on the parking ramp to make sure it can support what Jemal wants to build on top of it.
The results of that will determine if the centerpiece to his Electric District can be completed. In fact his deal to purchase the ramp from the city, and the rest of the development as envisioned actually depends on that.