Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - If all goes according to plan, the DePaul Group - by late next year - may be demolishing a long vacant building at 2700 Main Street and replacing with a building that will serve as the home for residents suffering from mental and other illnesses.
Mark Fuller, president of the Rochester-based DePaul Group, confirmed that his agency wants to demolish the existing three-story, 85-apartment building and replace it with a four-story, 80-unit residential care facility. The project represents a $19.4 million investment by DePaul.
"We promised Buffalo we would never leave an empty building and especially one of Main Street," Fuller said.
The project is the latest that DePaul has undertaken in Buffalo including the recently opened Pan American Apartments along Delaware Avenue in North Buffalo.
Named the Joseph Hodge Apartments, the DePaul project is the latest in a series of new developments taking place in a stretch along Main Street running from Amherst Street into deep into the University District.
Hodge was one of Buffalo's Black businessmen and entrepreneurs.
Originally built as a hotel in the early 1950s, DePaul has owned the building since 1992 and has served as a residence for people recovering mental and other illnesses.
Residents who lived in one of its apartments have been relocated to other DePaul properties.
"We poured tons of money into the building in terms of repairs but it has come to the point where it needs to be replaced with something more modern and efficient," Fuller said.
The project needs approvals from Buffalo's Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals and DePaul also needs state approval.
Pending those, the project will go into the final design phase and bidding.
Plans call for the building to be demolished and replaced with the new facility.
"The building is dated, the units are undersized and not accessible," Fuller said.