BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — We might be saying goodbye to the infamous Broadway Barns in the City of Buffalo in the near future.
Friday, Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon announced the city has reached an agreement with Uniland Development Company to acquire and redevelop a site along Bailey Avenue for a new Department of Public Works (DPW) Campus and Resiliency Center. This would allow the city to consolidate and bring together a number of the city's essential services into one location.
“This is an exciting announcement. This is a long time coming,” Acting Mayor Scanlon said.
According to city leaders, the site is about 59.7 acres at 250 Baitz Avenue and 1000 Bailey Avenue. The purchase price is $5 million, which the mayor's office said will be mostly funded by a grant provided by Empire State Development.
In addition, the city said Uniland has submitted an application to New York State’s Brownfield Cleanup Program and intends to remediate the site as part of the process.
“It’s former railroad land, so it really hasn't had a use on it previously," said Nadine Marrero, executive director, City Office of Strategic Planning. "It's 59.7 acres, which those of us who know city land, is unheard of to find such a large parcel to be able to do this.
Scanlon told reporters Friday it's time to consolidate its public works operations from eight to 10 locations, to one state-of-the-art facility and finally replace the aging Broadway Barns.
"I’m very familiar with the Broadway Barns – the Broadway garage and its inefficiencies and its physical condition and its need for us to improve our operations,” Scanlon said.
The city’s Executive Director of Strategic Planning, Nadine Marrero, says they'll incorporate a number of operations under one roof and create a snowstorm command center.
"We're going to have an 18,000-ton salt barn, which we don't currently have — vehicle wash outs, fueling stations, mechanic shops, storage for the plows, storage for our high lifts,” described Marrero.
The city said Phase 1 of the project includes the remediation of the site and the construction of the state-of-the-art facility and costs are estimated at $57 million. Phase 2 will include the construction of a new engineering garage, tote storage facility, and auto impound lot, with an estimated cost of $35 million.
“Over the years, sometimes it kind of felt like a pipe dream because it's just such a massive project,” responded Bryan Bollman, Lovejoy District Common Council Member.
Council member Bollman told me he's excited to support the project but will make sure it's right for residents.
“As a Council member who represents a neighborhood right across the street, I want to make sure the community members are consulted and are part of this whole planning process,” explained Bollman.
I asked Scanlon how the city will pay for the $92 million project.
“We had a $10 million award from the State, half of that is being used for the purchase of the land, so we had the remainder of that, I believe there's some incentives we will benefit from down the road as well,” replied Scanlon.
Scanlon said he will also reach out to state and federal governments for future assistance, since this involves public safety.
The city hopes to close on the land purchase by the end of the year. But this project still needs Common Council approval. Lawmakers are expected to begin their review of the proposal at the next Common Council session, Tuesday, October 14.
