By Nora Kowalczyk
BUFFALO — More than five years after it was first proposed, the apartment and retail project at Elmwood Avenue and Bidwell Parkway is finally taking tenants. City permit records show it got there by a longer, costlier route than its developer described last year.
Leasing is underway at Elmwood Bidwell Apartments, 976 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo Rising reported Oct. 20. Studios start at $1,700 a month for 446 square feet, one-bedrooms also start at $1,700, and a 1,075-square-foot two-bedroom, one-bath unit rents for $2,950.
The site said the complex includes 50 apartments and 7,275 square feet of commercial space, and that the project website showed 15 units pre-leased. Hoodline reported the same figures on Oct. 21.
Washington-based Douglas Development, the developer, still lists both the residential and commercial space as “coming soon” on its property page.
‘The hard part is done’
In March 2025, the company was promising a faster finish. In a March 31, 2025, report by WKBW’s Jeff Russo, Douglas Development vice president Paul Millstein said work would restart within a month.
“We will absolutely have this back in production in the next 30 days. We will have it online by the end of the year, the hard part is done,” Mr. Millstein told the station.
That end-of-2025 target passed. Company founder Douglas Jemal had offered a general rule in the same report: “It always takes longer. It always costs more.”
Mr. Jemal blamed the conditions his crews found inside the historic buildings. “When we got into it, everything was rotten; there was no salvaging it,” he told WKBW. “So we had to reinforce the storefronts, which was a huge expense, and put in a concrete building.”
What the permits show
City of Buffalo building permit records, published on the city’s Open Data portal, trace the project’s timeline.
The main general construction permit, GC21-9537594, was issued May 18, 2022, with Mr. Millstein listed as applicant. Noting major site plan and zoning board approvals, it covers the reuse of 976 and 982 Elmwood and 583 Potomac Ave. and a five-story addition at the rear, adding 15 dwelling units. The permit lists an estimated project value of $15 million and $29,452 in fees.
The open-data record lists an expiration date of March 1, 2026. It does not show whether the permit was extended or renewed, and the project has clearly continued since then. The Chronicle has asked the developer about the permit’s status.
Later permits show the building taking shape:
- An August 2022 permit for facade stabilization and removal of the remainder of a two-story masonry wall adjacent to the facade, “in preparation for future work.”
- A July 2025 electrical permit valued at $1 million for “48 Apartments, 6 future retail spaces” and an 800-amp service.
- An October 2025 plumbing permit for “all new interior plumbing for 44 units.”
- A March 31, 2026, permit for a new five-stop passenger elevator, valued at $110,000. The permit notes that “final acceptance” is required.
The unit counts in those filings, 44 and 48, differ from the 50 apartments now being marketed. Permit descriptions are often written for a single trade or phase and may not reflect a final layout, but the records alone do not resolve the difference.
The permit records do not include a certificate of occupancy. The Chronicle could not determine from public data whether one has been issued for any part of the building.
A storefront still waiting for an anchor
The ground floor has its own history. Community Beer Works, once announced as the anchor tenant, had pulled out by early 2025.
“We are no longer part of the Elmwood/Bidwell project and haven’t been for over a year,” Chris Groves, the brewery’s director of operations, said in a statement to WKBW at the time. “CBW has decided to concentrate its resources on optimizing operations at the Chandler Street facility and its existing locations.”
Mr. Millstein said then that other retailers were interested. “We’re getting requests from several types of retailers, anything from restaurants to breweries to wine bars to a coffee bar to high-end salons and spa-type uses,” he told the station. He said tenants would be confirmed as construction neared completion.
No commercial tenant has been publicly announced. The electrical permit anticipates up to six retail spaces.
Why it matters on Elmwood
The project was first proposed in the summer of 2021 and went through multiple redesigns before winning final city approval in December 2024, WKBW reported.
Buffalo Rising reported in April that rising costs had led to smaller upper-floor windows and less brick than first planned, according to Hoodline’s summary.
“At the end of the day, it’ll be the right product and that’s what matters,” Mr. Millstein said last year.
Whether the building delivers that, with residents moving in and storefronts filled, is the next test. The Chronicle has asked Douglas Development when it expects full occupancy, which retail tenants have signed, and how many of the 50 units are leased.
Photo: 976-982 Elmwood Ave. in June 2020, before redevelopment. Andre Carrotflower / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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