The University Plaza retail center in Amherst is on the market and town officials hope a buyer can help revive the property as a neighborhood centerpiece.

The effort to sell the property at 3500 Main St. comes less than a year after the owner won a 12% reduction in the plaza's assessment.

The 14-acre property is in Eggertsville along its border with the Town of Tonawanda and the City of Buffalo. Amherst officials say they want to see a redevelopment that includes housing for University at Buffalo students, more green space and better integration with the surrounding streetscape.

"We'd like to see a mixed-use community there," Amherst Supervisor Brian J. Kulpa said Tuesday.

Phillips Edison & Co. had purchased the property in 2007. Eight years later, the special servicer LNR Partners foreclosed on the plaza after Phillips Edison defaulted on its mortgage in a transaction valued at $9.87 million.

The property is $6.8 million in arrears now, according to the real estate advisory firm Trepp.

The owner is listed as Uniplaza Inc. Amherst Station LLC, with the same Cincinnati, Ohio, address as Phillips Edison.