Rochester billionaire and former Buffalo Sabres owner B. Thomas Golisano is doing more than just investing $20 million in his latest venture.
Golisano is reviving a vacant downtown Buffalo building - in this case, the former Buffalo News building at 125 Washington Street - and, by opening this fall the Golisano Institute for Business and Entrepreneurship, he is also bringing students back into the core of the city's central business district.
The institute is expected to welcome 100 students in its first year and, potentially, more than 250 enrollees within the next few years.
Taken together, the institute's impact on downtown Buffalo has the potential to be significant.
"What happens inside the building is as important as what is happening to the building itself," said Jim Dentinger, Golisano Institute Buffalo regional director and executive vice president.
According to documents filed with the Buffalo Planning Board, the institute will use the building's first, fourth and fifth floors initially with the second and third floors targeted for future expansion.
Also being eyed for future use is the adjoining printing press building on Scott Street.
"Plans for that building (the printing press) are still in the discussion phase," Dentinger said.
Students will range from recent high school graduates to those with college degrees. The common thread will be a desire to learn about business and entrepreneurship.
"They are coming in with different skill sets," Dentinger said.
Students will spend the first year of the two-year program in the institute working with instructors. Year two will see the students "intern" or move into a real-life business setting.
The program mirrors one Golisano founded in his native Rochester.
It is also the latest investment Golisano has made in the Buffalo Niagara region including making a $50 million donation to the Oishei Children's Hospital which was rebranded on Jan. 1 to the Golisano Children's Hospital.