An old Buffalo industrial building at Silo City was transformed into housing and commercial space, and the project is now receiving a major national historic preservation award for its efforts.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced Tuesday that American Lofts at Silo City in Buffalo has won the 2026 National Preservation Award for Best in Preservation.
Anthony Ceroy, the managing principal of Generation Development Group, which was the developer in charge of the Silo City project, said this project was one-of-a-kind and very important to the City of Buffalo.
“Silo City is arguably one of the most important historical or compilation really of historic assets, not just in Western New York, but maybe anywhere for what they are; they're this really interesting beacon of industrial heritage that really kind of put that part of the world on the map,” said Ceroy.
American Lofts introduced a permanent residential opportunity to Silo City by transforming an abandoned 230,000-square-foot industrial facility into 168 residential units with ground-floor commercial space.
This project combines preservation with opportunity for the WNY community, Ceroy said.
"This project is great because it's not only a great story from a historic preservation standpoint, but it's also a housing project, and it's not just a housing project; it's also an affordable and a market-rate, and workforce housing project," he said. "I think this is a great opportunity in part of Buffalo, being so close to the old First Ward, to have immediate, measurable quantitative and qualitative impact on the people that this project is ultimately going to serve. I think it checks a lot of boxes in terms of its impact, and a transformational one on the community."
Despite living in Florida and originally from the Detroit area, Ceroy shared his appreciation for Western New York ahead of the award ceremony.
"We have a love for Buffalo, and it's been very good to us in terms of being a canvas for where we can do some of our work; we're grateful to the community. We're grateful to the council, and are glad to see Western New York real estate being recognized at this level,” he said.
The project is being honored at an award ceremony Tuesday evening at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and can be livestreamed here.
