Amherst, N.Y. (WBEN) - New York Gov. Kathy Hochul awards $31 million to the Town of Amherst on Thursday for the transformation of the Boulevard Mall into a town center.
“Today marks a new day for the Boulevard Mall as we take the next step in transforming it into a vibrant, transit-oriented town center,” said Gov. Hochul. “Thanks to our investment, this exciting project is moving forward unlocking housing potential, creating jobs, and fostering opportunity in Western New York. The redevelopment of the Boulevard Mall is just one of the many transformative projects helping to boost the local economy and solve our housing crisis, and I applaud Supervisor [Brian] Kulpa and the Town of Amherst for having this vision to repurpose this under-utilized commercial property to improve the quality of life for Western New Yorkers."
Hochul says the plan for the renewed Boulevard Mall is to bring a community feel back to the area, that includes an active public space utilizing a quality and environmentally sustainable design that provides key pedestrian amenities. The proposed redevelopment would create at least 1,500 residential units through a mix of affordable, market rate, student and senior housing, and create new jobs and opportunity through the addition of restaurants, retail and open space.
“This investment from New York State, thanks to Gov. Hochul and our partners in the Legislature, is going to change the Town of Amherst’s trajectory. Without proper infrastructure in place, the Town’s existing assets suffer and meaningful development stalls," said Amherst Supervisor Brian Kulpa. "The Town’s West Amherst Infrastructure Project would have been too large for us to complete alone but thanks to Gov. Hochul, this essential wastewater treatment system can now be installed, allowing us to rectify drainage issues in the Williamsville, Snyder and Eggertsville neighborhoods and build the Boulevard Mall site to its full potential. We are dealing with a housing crisis in our region, but with proactive steps such as this, we can remedy the issue with this extensive infrastructure upgrade which will allow the town to introduce affordable housing units in the mall’s footprint while improving services for all residents, students and businesses located in project outline.”
Empire State Development recently approved a $31 million funding agreement for infrastructure work to make the site shovel ready to support future development. The scope of infrastructure work being funded includes design and construction of improvements to sanitary sewer infrastructure in the Boulevard Central District. Once complete, the sanitary sewer improvements will increase capacity within the existing sanitary sewer network in this section of Town with the construction of a pump station and new sewer mains.