The duo began teaming up, starting with the former Otis Bed Co. building on Florida Street, which is now the Mattress Factory Lofts, with 34 apartments and the new headquarters for Yots' firms. They are also spending $10 million to convert the former New York Central Freight House at 68 Tonawanda St. into the Black Rock Freight House apartments, with 35 units. And they are pursuing a $30 million renovation of the former Barcalo Manufacturing Co. building at 175-245 Louisiana St. into 119 loft apartments and offices.

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Jake Schneider

Like Frizlen, Jake Schneider is also a veteran architect who has increasingly become active in the development scene in Buffalo. He has spent 30 years in architecture, since 1979, after obtaining his degree from the University of Notre Dame. The son of an architect with a long legacy in Buffalo, Schneider has specialized in educational and religious design and adaptive reuse of historic structures.

In 2003, he started his development business, and has picked up the pace in the last eight years or so, revitalizing over 400,000 square feet of mixed-use space in formerly empty buildings.