Students Develop Strategy for Kensington Heights

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Graduate students in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning have proposed a strategy for the large-scale retail development of the former Glenny Drive apartment complex, 1827 Fillmore Ave., in Buffalo's East Side's commercially underserved Kensington Heights neighborhood.

The students developed the plan for "The Plaza at Kensington Heights" in a planning studio last fall under the direction of Ernest Sternberg, UB professor of urban and regional planning. By design, the project plan fits into existing East Side redevelopment plans, including the City of Buffalo's Comprehensive Plan.

The proposed site is a major eyesore. The 17-acre apartment complex is a collection of six cross-shaped, abandoned and deteriorating seven-story buildings owned by the City of Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority.

It has the advantage of being centrally located in a neighborhood underserved by retail outlets and is conveniently adjacent to the Kensington Expressway.

The UB planners also liked the fact that the site is surrounded by large undeveloped land parcels and adjacent properties, whose 83 additional acres could be acquired and, in an ideal environment, used for possible future expansion.

The project report notes that Kensington Heights, like many Buffalo neighborhoods, has a largely untapped retail market that annually costs the city a fortune in lost revenues because residents must shop in the suburbs.

The students point out in their planning report that in 1998, Buffalo had a retail gap of more than $300 million, meaning that the retail purchasing of city residents far exceeded actual retail sales in the city. If just half of those retail purchases outside the city limits were captured by the city proper, the planners say, an additional $60 million a year would be added to the city coffers.

Sternberg says cities like Boston have developed urban sites that have attracted retail giant or "big-box" stores usually found in the suburbs that serve as an anchor for additional retail establishments.

"That might be an optimistic expectation for Buffalo," admits Sternberg.

"One thing on our side is that 'big box' chains are exhausting the supply of suburban locations available to them," Sternberg says. "They are beginning to realize that in the urban centers they have ignored there is, in essence, a 'trapped population' desperate for the services they can provide. It might be time for us to take advantage of that realization."

He adds, "The effort could result in just one big store on a parking lot -- useful in some respects, but hardly ideal. What we've presented here is a scenario in which a healthy multi-retail market site might be developed.

"We recommend that first, the City of Buffalo hire a marketing consultant for six months to promote the site and engage an active campaign to attract a retailer or developer," Sternberg says.

"If a retailer can be found, the site would need to be rezoned as commercial (it is now residential) and pre-permitted by the City of Buffalo to make it more marketable immediately. That is Phase I of our recommended plan."

In additional development phases, the plan calls for the City of Buffalo to negotiate with the retailer or developer for use of the site; make environmental and physical modifications to the site, complete an environmental impact study, and demolish all property earmarked for development. The Glenny Drive apartments then would be demolished and infrastructure improvements would begin. Finally, the design and construction phase would take place.

The graduate students involved in the project are Jill Babinski, Laila Bondi, Matt Chatfield, Constantine Giokas, Nicole McGowen, Yvette Suarez, Rich Taczkowski, Leslie Vishwanath and Austin Wheelock.