Beacon Communities CEO Dara Kovel was in Buffalo yesterday for a ribbon cutting of her company’s latest development on Buffalo’s East Side. On top of that, Kovel was in town to lay the groundwork for more local projects in the development pipeline of her Boston-based company.
Beacon entered the Buffalo Niagara region and New York State when it acquired the former Norstar Cos. portfolio three years ago.
In the next few years, Beacon Communities will be undertaking more than $200 million in new projects - all aimed at developing apartments and townhomes for the U.S. Census Bureau-designated “affordable” housing and senior housing demographics.
Kovel says she and her company remain very bullish on the Buffalo Niagara market.
“I would say it has been much easier to do work in Buffalo and New York State than we have experienced in other places,” Kovel said. “We have some places where it's very easy to do work.”
Before acquiring the statewide Norstar portfolio in 2022, Beacon had virtually surrounded New York with operations in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Ohio - among other places.
It was long after the Norstar deal had closed that Gov. Kathy Hochul announced an initiative to see 800,000 “affordable” housing units developed statewide by 3032.
The just-opened, $71 million, 281-unit Ellicott Town Center on Buffalo’s East Side was one of those projects.
Beacon Communities is expected to advance more local projects in Buffalo and Niagara Falls in the coming months.
