"A long-vacant building in South Buffalo that once served as Western New York’s largest parochial school will be transformed into new housing for senior citizens. The former Holy Family Elementary School, at 1901 South Park Ave. near Tifft Street, will become a 35-unit apartment complex. City, state, federal and county officials announced the $9 million project Monday at the site, lauding it as a collaboration among various government entities.

Construction will begin later this year or in early 2010. The facility will provide affordable housing to low-and moderate-income residents who are at least 55 years old. Some of the apartments in the Holy Family Senior Housing Development will be tailored to frail residents and will include an emergency call response system and features that make them accessible to people who have physical impairments.

The city will commit $900,000 in funds it receives from the federal government to promote housing, Mayor Byron W. Brown said Monday. The Rev. James B. Cunningham, administrator of Holy Family Parish, said there is a pressing need for senior housing in communities across America. The elementary school was opened in 1915 and closed 89 years later as part of a consolidation of parochial schools in the city.

The housing project should be completed in early 2011. The three-story structure will house 30 one-bedroom units and five two-bedroom apartments. Among officials joining Brown and Cunningham at Monday’s news conference were Rep. Brian Higgins, Assemblyman Mark Schroeder and Erie County Legislator Timothy M. Kennedy. The development will complement millions of dollars in capital improvements that are being made as part of the South Park Avenue Reconstruction Project, said officials." M. Scott Allen of GAR Associates, Inc. completed a market study for this project in 2008/2009.

The Buffalo News
July 2009