Ellicott Development is planning a second mixed-use building on W. Delavan Avenue. The $10 million, four-story residential and retail project is proposed for southeast corner of W. Delavan and Delaware avenues. It will incorporate the former home of the Locker Room bar and a shuttered gas station at the corner. The design shown here is expected to be refined.

“This is really exciting infill,” said Bill Paladino, Ellicott Development’s CEO. “There has been a gas station at that corner for far too long. Ellicott Development is divesting from the gas station business at this point. The business margins are getting tougher, and it’s also tough with employees.”

From The Buffalo News:

The current concept envisions about 6,000 square feet of ground floor retail space in the new building, with eight apartments on each of the upper three floors. That’s expected to feature mostly two-bedroom apartments, as well as some units with one or three bedrooms, but officials have not yet determined the size or rents.

The Locker Room building would have another 1,800 square feet of storefront space, with a large three-bedroom apartment upstairs on the second floor. The two buildings would connect internally, but a lobby and residents’ entry corridor from Delaware would cut off the two first-floor retail spaces.

Below ground, Ellicott plans to put in a full basement level of parking, accessible from the south side, that would provide about 50 spaces – enough for the apartment needs, as well as the retail or commercial tenants. There would also be another 15 to 20 surface spaces, both behind the building and partially underneath it on the ground floor, off Delavan.

“Kevin Brinkworth owns the building next door, so we talked about teaming up,” adds Paladino. “That building will remain and we will find a restaurant for the first floor, and residential above. We’ve been thinking about this plan going on five years. We were looking around to see what everyone else was doing, including the Hutch’s expansion.”

Ellicott Development purchased the .33 acre gas station site in 2013 for $1.025 million. It is north of the Gates Circle redevelopment project and at the entrance to Forest Lawn Cemetery. Ellicott Development constructed a similar project at 905 Elmwood that also replaced a gas station with a four-story building that includes retail space and 21 apartments (above). In between at 722 W. Delavan, the company renovated former School #56 into 27 apartments.

The developer hopes to start construction next spring with completion in 2021.

“This intersection has been desolate for a while, a real eyesore,” says Paladino. “It’s an important corner that we want to fix up.”