BUFFALO, N.Y. — We are learning more about a major $400 million project involving new construction and demolition of the Marine Drive public housing complex.
2 On Your Side spoke with Executive Director Gillian Brown of the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority about the change in strategy from remodeling to a new build.
You could say the now 72-year-old Marine Drive Apartment complex and its resident towers are really showing their age.
"Sooner than many of us would like to think, they'll be 100 years old, and they're really ugly," Brown said.
The Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority thought about trying to modernize the 616-unit complex with its very cramped and very inefficient quarters. It also has poor, unregulated heating and decrepit water and sewer lines.
But as Brown points out, "The more we talked about it and the more we costed it out ... ineluctable conclusion is building new is cheaper."
So the new plan uses the adjacent BMHA-owned parking lot at Canalside to build new structures, then transfers residents to them, in an ongoing cycle to eventually demolish all seven of the old 10-story towers for new building space.
It's also a commitment for a mixed-income community of affordable housing on the BMHA-owned waterfront property.
To pay for it, there is a "complex" financing plan involving federal, state, and, yes, private investment in public housing.
2 On Your Side asked: "If you're using private developers, that would trigger a little bit of an alarm, though, maybe thinking, 'OK, they're going to raise these rents so that the investors are able to get some return here'?"
Brown replied: "I can see the fear. That's not the way low income housing tax credits work, though, so all of these units will be affordable. I don't mean affordable in the colloquial sense as a term of art among developers. It means they will be rents keyed to your income. People will not pay more than 30 percent of their income for rent including utilities."
We had another question about that parking lot near the Skyway: "Are you going to be able to fit everything in that footprint there?"
Brown responded: "That's all we own, so that's where we'll have to be. You'd be surprised, it's probably 21 acres. You'd be surprised at how big that parcel is, and how badly utilized it is."
Brown thinks construction could start in that parking lot by Canalside in 2024. In the meantime, current Marine Drive residents will be invited to take part in design meetings for their input starting at the end of this month.
He says this falls in line with Gov. Kathy Hochul's call for more affordable housing.
Overall, this could be part of an eight to ten year by the BMHA to revitalize the Perry and Schaffer Village complexes. Brown says the overall cost estimate could be $1 billion.
He also is seeking a financing plan to begin work with demolition and asbestos abatement of some of the now-vacant Perry project buildings in the spring or summer.