Legacy Development is planning a new $40 million residential development near the UB South Campus. University Place @ LaSalle will be a low-rise, high-density ‘urban village’ located across the street from the LaSalle transit station and adjacent to McCarthy Park. The Buffalo Planning Board signed-off on the project Tuesday morning.

The six-building complex will contain +/- 550 beds in apartment style suites. A total of 250 units are planned in studio to four-bedroom layouts. Charles Gordon Architecture, the lead architect, envisions an urban block concept inspired by the best of traditional Buffalo neighborhood urban design.

The design will be characterized by:

Short blocks with rather narrow two-way streets On-street parking Street corners and important site locations enlivened by glassy entries and layered traditional massing Small, human scaled courtyards that are comfortable for users, provide wind protection, invite the sun, and are easy to supervise Buildings located close to the street, hiding most of the parking, and establishing a human-scaled street wall of about 65’ building face to building face

“The building design creates a common ‘kit of parts’ for all the buildings,” says Gordon. “The strategy is to strengthen the overall concept with heightened attention to detail, materials and appearance at a few key locations such as building entries, highly visible street corners, building terminations, and transitions from street-side to courtyard facades to strengthen the streetscape.”

Legacy Development’s roots date back to 1998 when Frank Chinnici left a career in commercial banking to enter the real estate development business. Legacy is currently developing The Polo Grounds patio home community in East Aurora and has residential and commercial projects planned in Orchard Park, Amherst and elsewhere.

Earlier this year Legacy was named designated developer for a 4.7-acre City-owned parcel at the corner of Cordova and LaSalle avenues needed for the project. That land will be combined with six acres owned by Legacy. Much of the site is a former Buffalo Crushed Stone Company stone quarry that was in use until about 1950. The property is north of Main-LaSalle Place’s William Price Parkway, a cul-de-sac of single-family homes built by Marrano a decade ago.

Construction is expected to start early next summer.

Get Connected: Legacy Development, 716.689.3300