BUFFALO (WBEN - Brendan Keany) - The 201 Ellicott Street development, which plans to combine a residential component as well as a Braymiller Market, cleared another hurdle on Monday evening.
"This is the next step in the process to move this project forward," said Matt Davison, who serves as the project spokesperson for Ciminelli Real Estate Corporation. "The [Buffalo] Planning Board found that there were no negative environmental impacts for the proposed project."
He also voiced his displeasure with the use of the site, saying it's simply inadequate.
"We're putting up a fabricated steel warehouse that's going to be a food warehouse, and within it, will be a store the size of a 7/11. Do we really think that's what we need in the central business district?" began Termini. "We don't put one-story buildings in an urban, central business district, and that's what they're proposing here. The context of this building compared to the historic nature of the neighborhood just does not fit in."
"The Green Code does not require onsite parking; if you look at the city's planning documents, they discouraged surface parking," said Hopkins. "We're taking a large, outdated surface parking lot with no drainage, poor lighting and no landscaping, and we're replacing it with two uses that we need here in the city: affordable housing...and a fresh food market."
When asked about the concerns and criticism from other developers, Davison echoed Hopkins' sentiments, and he added that they're going to do what's necessary to push this project forward.
"We're focused on what we think is a pretty modern, contemporary development and something that has been long overdue for the City of Buffalo, so we're excited about our project," said Davison. "I think it's unfortunate that we keep harping on this notion of parking because, as you heard from the professionals today and as all of our studies have shown, there is a glut of parking downtown, there are spaces. It is a change in maybe our culture and people in how they view driving versus walking and what a reasonable walk looks like for a parking space, but we think we're on the mark with this development."