Churches, schools finding new adaptive re-use options

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Closed since 2007, the former St. Aloysius Gonzaga School has been largely sitting vacant.

But not anymore.

Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center will be buying the 50,000-square-foot school at 157 Cleveland Drive in Cheektowaga with plans to revive it as a special needs educational center for its clients.

In all, Buffalo Hearing & Speech will be investing $9.2 million in the project including $825,000 to buy the building.

The Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center deal is the latest in a recent series of developments and transactions where investors have looked to former religious and education properties as prime adaptive re-use projects.

Adaptive re-use of older properties, including former churches and schools, is not new and has been part of the development menu for years.

But, what is interesting is that recent weeks, several projects have emerged for former reiligious or educational properties.

"The bones in these buildings are often times good and that makes for an easier project," said Shana Stegner, CBRE Upstate director.

Among the new projects:

• Orchard Park developer Peter Krog is buying the former Catholic Diocese of Buffalo headquarters on Main Street with plans to anchor the downtown landmark with apartments. The project will bookend Krog's Trico Apartments that opened last year.
• The former St. John the Evangelist Church on Seneca Street in South Buffalo is being eyed as a residential conversion with 24 apartments.
• Architect/developer John Daly is also considering a residential conversion of the former Church of Ascension on North Street.

"There are so many factors that drive these deals," Stegner said. "It is never just one thing."

Neighborhoods matter, Stegner said.

St. John the Evangelist is a South Buffalo and Seneca Street anchor while St. Aloysius already sits in a quiet neighborhood.

Stegner said schools are especially attractive to not-for-profit because of their design and lay-out.

"The classrooms are already there, so is the infrastructure that these groups need," Stegner said.

So will this trend continue? The short answer is yes.

"So many of these project just fit nicely into the neighborhood and developer's plans," Stegner said.