Five years ago, a local nonprofit, Centro Cultural Italiano di Buffalo, expressed interest in converting an old unoccupied library into a cultural center for the group. The ball didn’t get rolling until Signature Development got involved, according to Joel P. Feroleto, a member of the city’s Delaware District Common Council, who has been involved in this conversion for more than two years.
Feroleto credits Rocco Termini, Signature’s CEO, for gathering support for the cultural center from both political parties. The state agreed to kick in $350,000 for the renovation, which was matched in February by Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. The city also donated the land for the center to the community.
After Brown’s announcement, says Feroleto, two buildings near the library were purchased by developers. They plan to convert one of the buildings, a restaurant that had been closed for a decade, into a wine bar, and the other, a church that had been closed for three years, into eight luxury apartments.
Termini, who will oversee construction of the cultural center, and Tomasso Briatico, whose architecture firm is designing it, are working pro bono. Briatico says his design has 4,000 sf of usable space on two floors, including a downstairs kitchen for cooking classes, plus classrooms for cultural preservation education.
“Buffalo is turning a corner, and becoming more of a financial center,” says Termini. His group recently purchased an entire street, where it is developing an incubator space under Start-Up NY, a program that allows new businesses to operate tax free for 10 years. He is also converting an 80,000-sf building in which a software development company and a ceramics manufacturer have each committed to taking 30,000 sf.
Related Stories
| Oct 2, 2014
Budget busters: Report details 24 of the world's most obscenely over-budget construction projects
Montreal's Olympic Stadium and the Sydney Opera House are among the landmark projects to bust their budgets, according to a new interactive graph by Podio.
| Oct 1, 2014
10 iconic modern buildings first to receive 'Keeping it Modern' conservation grants from the Getty Foundation
Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House and Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House are among the buildings to receive grants.
| Sep 29, 2014
Snøhetta releases final plan for terraced central library in Calgary
The competition-winning New Central Library is now in the final design stages, after two years of community engagement on the part of design firms Snøhetta and DIALOG.
| Sep 25, 2014
Jean Nouvel unveils plans for National Art Museum of China
Of the design, Nouvel describes it as inspired by the simplicity of “a single brush stroke.”
| Sep 24, 2014
Architecture billings see continued strength, led by institutional sector
On the heels of recording its strongest pace of growth since 2007, there continues to be an increasing level of demand for design services signaled in the latest Architecture Billings Index.
| Sep 24, 2014
Frank Gehry's first building in Latin America will host grand opening on Oct. 2
Gehry's design for the Biomuseo, or Museum of Biodiversity, draws inspiration from the site's natural and cultural surroundings, including local Panamaian tin roofs.
| Sep 23, 2014
Third phase of New York’s High Line redevelopment opens
The $35 million Phase 3, known as High Line at the Rail Yards, broke ground September 20, 2012, and officially opened to the public on September 21.
| Sep 23, 2014
Cloud-shaped skyscraper complex wins Shenzhen Bay Super City design competition
Forget the cubist, clinical, glass and concrete jungle of today's financial districts. Shenzhen's new plan features a complex of cloud-shaped skyscrapers connected to one another with sloping bridges.
| Sep 22, 2014
4 keys to effective post-occupancy evaluations
Perkins+Will's Janice Barnes covers the four steps that designers should take to create POEs that provide design direction and measure design effectiveness.
| Sep 22, 2014
Sound selections: 12 great choices for ceilings and acoustical walls
From metal mesh panels to concealed-suspension ceilings, here's our roundup of the latest acoustical ceiling and wall products.
