AMHERST (WBEN) - The Boulevard Mall is just one of the many pies prominent developer Doug Jemal has his fingers in across the Buffalo region after buying the property for $30 million back in 2019.
"The Boulevard Mall is a work in progress," said Jemal Wednesday morning. "It's 63 acres and has to be repositioned into what I'd call a life center - a residential, retail, office centerpiece of Amherst. It's big enough to create its own little city. It's not just a mall any longer - the word 'mall,' what does is really mean today? It's obsolete."
Amherst Supervisor Brian Kupla is pleased with the vision for the property and where everything stands, but he also noted that this type of project will be a slow burn.
"We've had some meetings about his proposals, and we're currently doing the hard work of engineering and figuring out the reconfiguration of town infrastructure to make those possible," said Kulpa. "From that standpoint, he's got a lot of work to do and so do we, and that's where we're at - this thing is going to take years."
Kulpa, however, has expressed concern over WS Development's Station 12 project, recently saying "it's a problem for the town."
[shortcode-inline-related expand="1" link="/wben/news/local/more-delays-for-station-12-in-amherst" headline="Station 12 in Amherst: "I don't see a sign of life over there"" image="/media-library/image.jpg?id=63598971"]"I'm very displeased with Station 12, and that developer is one of those that gives you really no feedback," said Kulpa. "That one is not progressing well...I'm not very enthusiastic about retail-only facilities, and that's a retail-only facility - I just don't see them as sustainable."
Regardless of some of the difficulty with Station 12, Kulpa is confident in the future of the Boulevard Mal development, saying the two projects are vastly different in vision and not really comparable.
"Douglas didn't get out in front of himself and start construction until he has his ducks in a row - it's a different animal altogether," Kulpa began. "Where one of them is in a constant state of communication, the other one is not communicative. Douglas is doing residential as the basis for his project, which is a secure financing mechanism, (while Station 12) is not, it's all based on retail. It's night and day, the two projects."
As for the Boulevard, Jemal is hopeful that we start to see some progress within the next year.
