I received a letter last week from Marlies Wesolowski  indicating that the Crescent Village project has been stalled.  Wesolowski is the Exceutive Director for the Matt Urban Center…one of the partners in the project.

[click here to read letter - pdf]

The project encompasses a 16- block area surrounded by Broadway, Walden Avenue, Loepere Street and Rother Avenue and also includes Masjid Zakariya Mosque and the City of Buffalo as partners.

I will email or call Marlies to get more info on the delay.

We at the Broadway Area Business Association have read several News articles that reflect poorly on the Broadway Market and the Broadway-Fillmore area of Buffalo. While there is some validity to the negativity expressed, we are concerned that many of the positive things occurring in the neighborhood are being obscured in the process.

Many people are working hard to ensure that the neighborhood survives and thrives. The Polish Community Center of Buffalo is busy overseeing the creation of Crescent Village. Nearby the Sycamore Village is taking shape. Broadway-Fillmore Alive is working to save historical landmarks and remind people of the proud history of Buffalo’s Polish-Americans.

St. Stanislaus and Corpus Christi churches have invested heavily in their properties. The Handley Brothers have maintained the old Victor’s furniture store for new tenants, the Eckhardt family’s department store stands ready for reuse and E-Square Capital is renovating the old Barnom building.

Throughout the community, new housing is replacing old dilapidated houses. The restoration of the Central Terminal continues to move forward. As downtown continues to grow, we expect the resurgence to travel down Broadway and help us rebuild the Broadway-Fillmore area.

The Broadway Market does continue to struggle, and we stand ready to work hand in hand with whoever manages this venerable icon of our community to regain its former glory.

Griffith D. Pritchard

President, Broadway Area Business Association

http://www.buffalonews.com/opinion/everybodyscolumn/story/386219.html

Amen and thank you, Griff!

From the Buffalo News…

The Crescent Village Revitalization Project in the city’s Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood got started Monday as officials and community leaders announced plans to construct 10 new subsidized homes.

The Sweet Avenue homes will be the first phase of a $5 million project that includes market-rate new builds, homes that will be rehabilitated and sold, and owner-occupied homes that will be upgraded. The project encompasses a 16- block area surrounded by Broadway, Walden Avenue, Loepere Street and Rother Avenue.

The project is exciting in that it not only focuses on new builds but is going to mixed development…to create a stronger neighborhood, the revivification of existing properties/structures will make the area dynamic and city-like if that makes sense.

I also like Dave Franczyk’s quote at the end of the article.

“There was a time when Sweet Avenue was regarded as a lost cause,” Franczyk said. “This shows you can never write off a community.”

Alive…

[read the full Buffalo News story...]

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, the Deputy Mayor Donna Brown, Common Council President David A. Francyzk, Marlies A. Wesolowski, Executive Director of the Matt Urban Center and others will make brief remarks. Representatives from the City of Buffalo’s Office of Strategic Planning, members of the Masjid Zakariya Mosque, the Matt Urban Center’s Board and various other community members will be on hand to participate in the groundbreaking. The ceremony will be open to press coverage.

The Crescent Village Project is a collaborative effort between the Matt Urban Center, the Masjid Zakariya Mosque on Sobieski Street, the City of Buffalo’s Office of Strategic Planning, and the Broadway-Fillmore community residents. It is a major residential redevelopment initiative designed to stimulate the revitalization of the Broadway Fillmore neighborhood located on Buffalo’s East Side. This exciting $4.5 million dollar project proposes to employ a comprehensive neighborhood redevelopment approach.

http://www.urbanctr.org/

Spoke with Marlies Wesolowski this morning about the Matt Urban Center and all the fantastic things her organization does for the B-F neighborhood and beyond.

In the conversation, Marlies gave me an update on the Crescent Village Project and a number of other initiatives the Matt Urban Center is involved with.

Good stuff…KEEPING THE NEIGHBORHOOD ALIVE!

Thanks Marlies!

Audio: (click to listen)

(download .mp3)

http://www.urbanctr.org

I emailed Marlies Wesolowski Executive Director of the Matt Urban Center for an update on the Crescent Village area.  The Matt Urban Center is the lead housing agency on the project.  The area targeted in the project is a 16-block area that is bound by Broadway to the south, Walden to the north, Loepere to the east and Sobieski to the west.  It incolves mostly congregants of Masjid Zakariya on Sobieski Street. The idea is to build new homes or upgrade/rehab existing sturctures around the mosque.

Here is the update…the project is awaiting bids from a variety of builders.  Bids are being accepting for about two more weeks.  Once all are received and evaluated, a builder will be selected by the end of March or early April with the idea of groundbreaking taking place by mid April.

There are currently 94 families interested in the project who are being qualified to particpate.

Great news!

I also asked Marlies to do an audio interview for BFA.  Look for it in the coming weeks…we will talk about Cresent Village and also discuss the scope of everything the Matt Urban Center is involved in in the neighborhood…you will be surprised.

An apartment complex for very young adults can get under way now that a $3.1 million state grant has been awarded for the project.

And, the Buffalo Planning Board recently approved Crescent Village, a $5 million community development project in a 16-block area that will include market-rate new builds, subsidized new builds, homes that have been rehabilitated and sold, and owner-occupied homes that have been upgraded.

“We’re so lucky,” Marlies Wesolowski, executive director of the center, said of the grant from the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.

[read full story]

The Matt Urban Center will have an open house tonight between 5 and 7 PM to give updates on the Crescent Village development.

It will also be an opportunity to find out about the programs available inside project.

1081 Broadway, Buffalo, NY 14212

From WGRZ.COM…

Thanks to a $464,000 federal grant, nearly 40 dilapidated homes in Buffalo’s Broadway-Fillmore corridor are coming down.

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-Fairport) was on hand Friday with Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and other authorities, to watch the first home be crushed to the ground.

These demolitions are part of the “Crescent Village” project…

Today the Buffalo News has a Q&A sesssion with Marlies Wesolowski who is executive director of the Matt Urban Center.  She talks more about the project and the East Side.

From the Buffalo News…

Q&A: Marlies Wesolowski on East Side housing development

Marlies Wesolowski is executive director of the Matt Urban Center, which is spearheading efforts on the East Side, involving mostly Muslim congregants of Masjid Zakariya on Sobieski Street, to build new homes or upgrade existing ones around the mosque. She discussed the project.

Q: Where and how are you beginning this project?

A: The neighborhood we’re targeting in Phase 1 is a 16-block area that is bound by Broadway to the south, Walden to the north, Loepere to the east and Sobieski to the west. The project is called “Crescent Village” because if you look at where people work, live and play you will see that it forms a crescent shape.

Because the neighborhood needs so much, we decided from a planning perspective that no one thing was going to be the silver bullet. So we have worked hard to put together a comprehensive approach to the neighborhood including securing funding through Congresswoman Louise Slaughter’s office in the amount of $472,000 to do targeted demolition. We’re hopeful we’ll be able to tear down between 30 to 40 homes in that area. Unfortunately, we need to take down about 70.

Q: How will improvements be funded?

A: We have received $62,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank to assist homeowners in our target area who have minor code or housing violations in correcting these problems. This could be anything from small repairs and painting to yard work costing no more than $5,000. We believe we can help at least 10 to 12 homeowners within our target area.

[read full story in the news...]