By Nora Kowalczyk
BUFFALO — The Salvation Army has opened the first building of its $100 million Hope on Main redevelopment at 954 Main Street, a three-story family emergency shelter that will be the anchor for a block-scale project of 160 affordable homes, community space and a public plaza between the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and Allentown.
The 40,000-plus-square-foot shelter, which opened Friday, has 32 units with 80 beds for families experiencing homelessness, WBEN reported. Each unit has a private bathroom, and some connect so larger families can stay together. Families now living in the Salvation Army’s older shelter will move into the new building in the coming weeks.
For the city’s development pipeline, the more consequential piece is what comes next on the same three-acre site: a seven-story building with 143 affordable apartments on Main Street and 17 three-bedroom townhouses on North Pearl Street.
How the first phase was paid for
WBEN, citing the Salvation Army, put the total investment in the shelter at $20.5 million. The capital stack, as listed in that report, was:
- $10 million from the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance’s Homeless Housing and Assistance Program
- $3.6 million from the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency
- $1.2 million from Erie County’s capital improvement program
- $1.9 million from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York
- $3 million from the Salvation Army, including major gifts from foundations and corporate partners
- A $750,000 CREST award
The design firm SWBR, the architect of record, said in its own announcement that it partnered with construction manager ARC Building Partners “to design and deliver the $18M project.” The announcements did not explain the difference between the two figures.
Operating support will come from the Erie County Department of Social Services, the city’s Emergency Solutions Grant and a state nutrition program administered through FeedMore WNY, according to WBEN.
“Tomorrow we keep building”
At Friday’s ribbon-cutting, Buffalo Deputy Mayor Thomas Baines framed the shelter as a first step rather than a destination, according to Buffalo Toronto Public Media.
“A shelter answers the question of tonight, but our job together is to answer the question of tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day,” Mr. Baines said. “A lease with their name on it, a key that fits into their own lock, a place to call home.”
Major Annette Lock, director of county operations for the Salvation Army, said the organization is already looking past the first phase.
“There’s more families to serve, more lives to change, and more hope to build,” Ms. Lock said, according to BTPM. “We have seen what is possible when a community comes together around a shared vision, and I believe that the best is still to come. So today we celebrate; tomorrow we keep building.”
She described the building’s ground floor to WBEN as a place where families can begin to stabilize. “As they come in, it’s a welcoming space. There’s a large activity room and a beautiful dining room, commercial kitchen where we prepare three meals for the families each day,” Ms. Lock said.
Phase II: 160 affordable homes
Phase II is where Hope on Main becomes a housing development. SWBR said it will add 143 affordable apartments, 17 townhomes and shared amenities, along with Salvation Army offices, program space and a food pantry meant to serve residents and the surrounding neighborhood. WBEN described the apartments as one- and two-bedroom units in a seven-story building with a dedicated floor for community space.
The Homeless Alliance of Western New York has already helped secure close to $10 million in state funding for Phase II, BTPM reported. No construction start date for the second phase was announced Friday.
SWBR said the full Hope on Main campus spans three acres and approximately 215,000 square feet, and is designed to “strengthen the connection between Buffalo’s Medical Campus and the surrounding Allentown neighborhood.” The design calls for a plaza on Main Street, framed by preserved brick, that the firm described as an “open civic stage.”
“The completion of the new family shelter marks an important milestone in a larger vision for Hope on Main and will have an immediate impact in the lives of residents who will call this building home,” said Jim Vekasy, the SWBR architect who served as project manager.
Phase III and the $100 million goal
The third phase moves off Main Street to the East Side, where the Salvation Army plans a new East Buffalo church and community center with a chapel, after-school learning program, gymnasium, fitness center, food pantry, kitchen and a music program, according to WBEN.
About $30 million has been committed toward the campaign’s $100 million goal across all three phases, WBEN reported. That leaves roughly $70 million to be raised or financed, a gap that affordable housing developers typically close with low-income housing tax credits, state housing finance agency loans and private debt, though the Salvation Army has not publicly detailed the financing plan for the later phases.
SWBR noted that more than half of Buffalo households spend over 30 percent of their income on housing.
The Buffalo Chronicle has asked the Salvation Army of Buffalo for a timeline and financing plan for Phase II. This story will be updated with any response.
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