Five years ago, a local nonprofit, Centro Cultural Italiano di Buffalo, expressed interest in converting an old unoccupied library into a cultural center for the group. The ball didn’t get rolling until Signature Development got involved, according to Joel P. Feroleto, a member of the city’s Delaware District Common Council, who has been involved in this conversion for more than two years.
Feroleto credits Rocco Termini, Signature’s CEO, for gathering support for the cultural center from both political parties. The state agreed to kick in $350,000 for the renovation, which was matched in February by Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. The city also donated the land for the center to the community.
After Brown’s announcement, says Feroleto, two buildings near the library were purchased by developers. They plan to convert one of the buildings, a restaurant that had been closed for a decade, into a wine bar, and the other, a church that had been closed for three years, into eight luxury apartments.
Termini, who will oversee construction of the cultural center, and Tomasso Briatico, whose architecture firm is designing it, are working pro bono. Briatico says his design has 4,000 sf of usable space on two floors, including a downstairs kitchen for cooking classes, plus classrooms for cultural preservation education.
“Buffalo is turning a corner, and becoming more of a financial center,” says Termini. His group recently purchased an entire street, where it is developing an incubator space under Start-Up NY, a program that allows new businesses to operate tax free for 10 years. He is also converting an 80,000-sf building in which a software development company and a ceramics manufacturer have each committed to taking 30,000 sf.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
CTBUH changes height criteria; Burj Dubai height increases, others decrease
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH)—the international body that arbitrates on tall building height and determines the title of “The World’s Tallest Building”—has announced a change to its height criteria, as a reflection of recent developments with several super-tall buildings.
| Aug 11, 2010
JE Dunn, Balfour Beatty among country's biggest institutional building contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 50 Institutional Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Jacobs, Arup, AECOM top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 75 largest international design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 International Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Walter P Moore wins top award for Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art
With structural engineering from Walter P Moore, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art has won the New Buildings Under $30 Million project category in the 2009 Structural Engineers Association of Kansas & Missouri (SEAKM) Awards Program.
| Aug 11, 2010
Architecture Billings Index flat in May, according to AIA
After a slight decline in April, the Architecture Billings Index was up a tenth of a point to 42.9 in May. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. Any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction employment declined in 333 of 352 metro areas in June
Construction employment declined in all but 19 communities nationwide this June as compared to June-2008, according to a new analysis of metropolitan-area employment data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. The analysis shows that few places in America have been spared the widespread downturn in construction employment over the past year.
| Aug 11, 2010
Jacobs, Hensel Phelps among the nation's 50 largest design-build contractors
A ranking of the Top 50 Design-Build Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Bowdoin College has country's first newly constructed LEED-certified ice arena
Bowdoin College's new Sidney J. Watson Arena, dedicated January 18, 2009, has become the first newly constructed ice arena in the United States to earn coveted LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).
