BUFFALO, NY - A developer now wants to build what would be Buffalo's tallest residential building, with one- and two-bedroom apartments, at the site where the old Freezer Queen plant now stands.
Plans call for transforming this former frozen food storage center and warehouse on Buffalo's Outer Harbor into a 23-story tower, with up to 200 apartments.
The blueprints also include two restaurants, a fitness center, a nightclub and on-site parking for 600 cars.
Assemblyman Sean Ryan supports the project and is encouraged to see private sector development.
“We spent a lot of money to make it so Ohio Street is a new corridor to downtown, so at the end of the Ohio Street corridor, you essentially find the Freezer Queen site,” Assemblyman Ryan said.
This isn't the first proposal developer Gerry Buchheit brought forward.
Buchheit purchased the property for $3 million in 2007, when his plans called for condos and a hotel. The plan never came to fruition because of the unstable economy, he says.
Last year, plans were announced again, but this time it was a $40 million project to transform the building into more than 100 high-end apartments, with big living rooms and a view of the waterfront.
Now, the plans call for the tallest residential structure in Buffalo.
“It is a large footprint, so I think we have to just be really careful moving forward,” Councilman Chris Scanlon said. The city is expected to review the project next month.
“We have been waiting to develop the outer harbor for more than fifty years now and we’re only going to get one shot to do it right, so we should take a slow first step, and be very careful about it,” Scanlon said.