BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Central Terminal Restoration Corporation on Thursday announced its preferred development team in its ongoing efforts to repurpose the landmark structure which towers over Buffalo’s east side.
Once one of the busiest railroad terminals in the United Sates, efforts to redevelop the site have been unsuccessful since the last train left in 1979.
Leading the team will a real estate firm, CB Emmanuel. It is based in New York City but has done several affordable housing projects locally.
They include the Mount Aaron Village on Genesee Street downtown; Angela's House, which converted the former Villa Maria High School into apartments for seniors; and the Lofts at University Heights, which involved transforming the former PS-63 at Main and Lisbon into apartments.
“It closed when I was 10 years old,” said Ben Upshaw, CB Emmanuel’s co-founder and managing partner. “Most of these people that come and celebrate here have no memory of this ever functioning as a terminal. I know it did, but I never came here. But yet it’s a special place."
The development team also includes the Wisconsin-based Alexander Company, which specializes in preservation of historic buildings in urban settings, and New York City-based Rise Community Capital. Its role will be to provide financial advice and attract investors for the project, similar to the role it played in finding financial backers for the National Comedy Center in Jamestown.
Plans for the restoration of Central Terminal have come and gone before.
However, Upshaw noted, "There was a specific developer and that is the transition. We are going from a stage of maintaining and caring for the building to restoring the building to its former splendor."
Something else those previously interested in taking on the massive project didn’t have was $60 million in taxpayer funds, most of which is being provided through New York State.
The development team will be guided by a previously approved master plan that calls for a mix of affordable housing and office space combined with a community entertainment venue and perhaps even light manufacturing.
The project, as envisioned, could take 10 years and up to $300 million to complete.