By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – A major re-development of Buffalo's Fruit Belt neighborhood takes a step forward. UB and the Oak-Michigan Housing Development Corporation are announcing an agreement for UB to purchase McCarley Gardens.
The $15 million sale of the property owned by St. John the Baptist Church is one piece of a massive $500 million redevelopment plan for Buffalo's East Side. Residents would be re-located to new housing built as part of the plan. And UB would use the property to expand its adjacent bio-medical campus.
The purchase is contingent upon HUD approval and completion of a number of conditions assuring the needs of residents are met. UB President John Simpson says the deal also hinges on state funding and reforms.
Simpson says the UB 2020 master plan depends on acquiring additional land to expand. He says the pending McCarley sale took years to negotiate. But the church's development arm is eager to move forward so it can pursue its own ambitious revitalization plans for the neighborhood. Simpson says that urgency could be used to motivate Albany into action as well.
The plan does have the support of the Western New delegation of state lawmakers.
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