Building boom comes to long-suffering Buffalo, NY

BUFFALO, N.Y. Maggie Sperrazza wakes up every morning to the hum and growl of construction outside her Buffalo apartment building, but it doesnt bother her a bit.

Its about time! the 86-year-old said as she zipped on a scooter near the foot of Main Street, where construction cranes loom over hard-hat zones. Weve been in the hole long enough.

From her vantage point, Sperrazza has been witness to a building boom unseen in Buffalo in more than 50 years, with more than $4.4 billion in public and private development announced since 2012.

Mayor Byron Brown and other city leaders say theyve shifted away from elusive silver bullet fixes for a stagnant economy toward more doable projects that together create momentum.

Much of the development is concentrated in the citys 120-acre hospital and research corridor, which is expected to add nearly 5,000 employees over the next four years.

A site that once housed Republic Steel will be transformed into a clean energy manufacturing complex anchored by Elon Musks SolarCity, which this past week announced plans for one of the worlds largest solar panel production plants with as many as 1,000 employees within two years.

Instead of the home run, why dont we get a couple singles? You get two singles, you have somebody in scoring position, and thats the whole attitude, said Robert Gioia, chairman of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp., which has been coordinating waterfront improvements.

After decades of losses that have cut the population to 259,000, Brown predicts the 2020 census will show the first population gains for the city since the 1950s, helped by an influx of immigrants and refugees.

That, along with a $1 billion pledge by Gov. Andrew Cuomo intended to leverage additional investment, has brought new optimism complete with its own buzzword, Buffalove.

Buffalos challenges remain: Its 30 percent poverty rate places it among the nations poorest cities, and its school system graduates just 54 percent of its students. Abandoned homes and storefronts blight poor neighborhoods, while the citys tallest building, the 38-story One Seneca Tower, stands 94 percent vacant downtown after the pullout of two of its largest tenants last year.

Read the original:
Building boom comes to long-suffering Buffalo, NY