BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The $189 million mixed-use development planned for Buffalo's Canalside is facing pushback from a group of local developers and business leaders who say the North Aud Block project has strayed from the original vision for the waterfront.
The Pennrose development is slated to bring 251 apartments and commercial space to the site known as the North Aud Block pit at the heart of Canalside.
A group of local developers and business leaders sent a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul and state and local officials raising concerns about the number of affordable housing units planned for the development.
"The North Aud Block project has quietly strayed far from our community's plan for the waterfront - a plan which so far has proven successful," the letter states.
The core complaint centers on one key change to the project: 75 percent of the units will now be affordable housing, leaving 25 percent at market rate.
Larry Quinn, a board member at the Golisano Institute for Business, was among those who signed the letter.
"The reason for the letter is that there's really a total lack of information as to what's being built, since so many people have invested time, money, and energy in the waterfront. The first question is, what are you building? The second question is, did you do it within the confines of existing environmental law? Then the third is this really the right solution for a site that's been planned for something else for a long, long time?" Quinn said.
Quinn also raised questions about whether the housing mix is appropriate given what is already being built nearby.
"Is it the right mix of housing for the full development?" Quinn said. "There's about 1000, over 1000 units of low-income housing being built within a block of this site, so is building more than that an answer, or is it trying to have a mix to support the city as a whole?"
WATCH: North Aud Block development faces scrutiny over affordable housing mix at Canalside
Those concerns were addressed by Governor Kathy Hochul during her visit to Western New York on Friday.
"We do need housing, so anybody who has an issue right now certainly was at liberty to respond to the RFP, put forth a plan, 100 percent market rate, or whatever they wanted to do, but very few stepped up because of the economics don't work out for many of these projects anymore," Hochul said.
Hochul also pushed back on characterizations of the affordable housing breakdown, arguing the distinction between affordable and market-rate units is narrower than critics suggest.
"The 80 percent of AMI is almost identical to the market rate, so in truth it's basically 50/50, but look at the lowest AMI level, 40 percent, a brand new police officer starting out would qualify for that," Hochul said.
Pennrose says the 75 percent affordable housing component of the development includes 25 percent of units offered at rents set at 80 percent of the area median income, or AMI.
Pennrose released the following statement to 7 News on Friday:
"Today is an important day for the Canalside community. After years of vacancy, financing is closed and construction has begun on North Aud — a 251-unit mixed-income residential community with 18,000 square feet of retail, dining, and commercial space anchored by a central public plaza at the heart of Canalside. Every resident, business, restaurant, and entertainment venue at Canalside benefits from having a project like this in their community.
Our vision for North Aud has remained unchanged throughout the process: to create a vibrant, mixed-use community serving a broad range of incomes and acting as an economic engine for Buffalo's waterfront.
Rents will range from $757 per month for an attainable one-bedroom to nearly $3,000 for a market-rate three-bedroom. This mix creates a stable, economically integrated community that serves Buffalo's workforce — teachers, nurses, first responders, young professionals — alongside market-rate residents. A neighborhood that excludes its nurses and firefighters is not a thriving neighborhood — it's an unsustainable one.
North Aud was developed in full partnership with the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation and Empire State Development, with state approval at every stage. In addition to high-quality housing, the project brings public space with year-round retail, dining, and public programming to a site that has sat vacant for too long.
For more than 50 years, Pennrose has built mixed-income communities that strengthen the neighborhoods around them. Pennrose looks forward to bringing North Aud to the waterfront and serving as a critical part of the community's ongoing revitalization for generations to come."
