In a significant win for the East Side, The Peyton Barlow Company is proposing renovations to the former Pollack & Blakemore furniture store at the northeast corner of Broadway and Madison Street. Plans call for restoration of three buildings on the site (below), construction of an infill building on a vacant lot at 584 Broadway, and construction of a parking lot at 588 Broadway. A mix of office, retail and residential space is planned along with 22 parking spaces. Ashwood Architectural is designing the project.

According to architect Jason Bennett, the exact number of tenants and occupancy types is still being finalized. “The intent is to create a mixed-use building with office, retail, and residential uses,” says Bennett. The draft plan calls for three townhouse type units on the Madison Street side, each with two-levels. Two would be residences and the third occupied by The Peyton Barlow Company offices. The third floor on the corner could be an apartment.

First floor space along Broadway will be commercial or retail space with some office space on the second floor and one to two additional apartments on the third floor. In all, there could be three to four residences, two or three retail spaces, and two to three business or office spaces.

The new infill building (second from right above) will be slightly recessed from its neighbors by ten to twelve feet. According to the Application to the Zoning Board, “it would allow the infill building to continue with the character of the street front retail/business facade typical of Buffalo while adding some modern character by stepping back creating a small recessed entry off of the street, and varying the story height slightly to differ from the existing.”

The project requires variances for story height, front setback, and proposed side yard parking. According to the Application, “The story height variance and the front setback are a function of the intended design, to be inviting, mimic history, but also meet design for ‘today.’ You could argue that is self-created. The side yard parking vs rear yard is not self-created. There simply is no room to provide rear yard parking.”

Adjacent blocks have seen hundreds of public, subsidized and market-rate housing built on scattered sites. Three large residential projects are proposed or underway nearby. Stuart Alexander and Associates is part of a team constructing The Forge on Broadway just west of Jefferson. The project will include 159 residential units, with 85 percent of those being affordable.

Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers, Inc. has plans for an 84-unit senior housing complex at 418-28 Adams Street, one block north of the Pollack & Blakemore site. The four-story building will be connected to the existing Westminster Settlement House structure located at 419 Monroe Street.

Mt. Aaron Missionary Baptist Church is seeking to redevelop 19 vacant East Side parcels located along Genesee, Adams, and Grey streets into a 64-unit inter-generational affordable housing complex. A three-story apartment building is proposed along Genesee Street, 12 three-bedroom townhomes would be built along Grey Street, and five three-bedroom townhomes and on-site parking are proposed at the interior of the site. The project, which recently received State funding, is expected to break ground in October.