Cleanup kicks off West Side housing project

A planned West Side apartment project thats been more than four years in the making is finally moving forward, as environmental cleanup begins on the former sign-painting site and the site plan goes before the city next month.

Contractors from Benchmark Environmental this week will start excavating and disposing of about 3,600 tons of soil and fill materials at 295 Maryland St., near Allentown, as part of a state-supervised remediation plan, in preparation for redeveloping the property at the corner of Maryland Street and West Avenue. A soil cover and vapor barrier will also be installed on the site.

Former city judge-turned-real estate developer Anthony P. LoRusso is planning to construct a three-story, 44,900-square-foot building with a total of 54 market-rate apartments, aimed at lower- to middle-income residents. The proposed building, if approved by the city Planning Board in February, would include 48 one-bedroom units and six two-bedroom units.

With 628 square feet in the one-bedroom units and 990 square feet in the larger ones, the apartments will rent for $765 a month and $895 per month, respectively, LoRusso said. By comparison, he added, most similar new units rent for $900 to $1,200 per month.

The building will also include adequate parking as well as green space, plus a small art gallery for the Allentown neighborhood and community rooms. LoRusso said he had wanted to put a community laundry in the building but nixed it because of neighborhood opposition.

Were quite proud of this, said LoRusso, a former Family Court and City Court judge, who is working with partner Richard Gonzalez on the housing project. We think it will very much fit into the neighborhood and will be very nice housing.

In all, the project should cost about $5 million of his own equity and bank financing from First Niagara Financial Group, including brownfield cleanup expenses of between $550,000 and $900,000, depending on what is ultimately needed, LoRusso said. He said hes hoping to recover about 18 percent to 20 percent of his redevelopment costs, or $1 million, from the state through the Brownfield Cleanup Program, although he has to incur the costs upfront.

The state helps you a little bit there, but in the beginning you must do it all, he said. Still, without that help, I dont think you can do these projects.

This is another example of efforts by landlords and developers to capitalize on the newfound activity in the urban core, and the strengthened desire by many to live in or near downtown. The area hes targeting is just outside of Allentown and near Elmwood Avenue.

And its also easily accessible to the burgeoning Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, where 5,000 more people will be working in the next few years as Ciminelli Real Estate Corp.s Conventus Building, the University at Buffalos School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, the new John R. Oishei Childrens Hospital and Roswell Park Cancer Institutes Clinical Sciences Center are all completed. Indeed, he noted, Metro buses that stop just outside the building and a block away go directly to the Medical Campus.

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Cleanup kicks off West Side housing project