St. Martin's Village Project
The St. Martin's Village Project will revive the site and several of the buildings of the German Catholic Orphanage at 564 Dodge Street on the city's East Side, near the Kensington Expressway.
The current plans for the 9-building complex have 4 of its current buildings, including the chapel, being restored. The other buildings will be demolished, and 3 new buildings will join the site for a 7 building complex that will house 60 units of affordable housing apartments. R & P Oak Hill Development of Hamburg will be involved from the construction side, with the design work performed by Silvestri Architects P.C. of Amherst.
UB Law School Professor George M. Hezel, through the Law School's Affordable Housing Clinic, and the Community Action Organization of Erie County are involved in the project. St. Martin's Village was moving through the various economic development agencies and boards of the City of Buffalo in a timely fashion late this past Winter and early Spring. However, the project was withdrawn from their agendas temporarily because of staff changes at Silvestri and the need for short term financing. The project should move forward once these problems are taken care of.
With the recent controversies over demolition of historic buildings, It's good to see a plan that preserves the site and some of the buildings of the German Catholic Orphanage, a complex that is prized and admired by many.
Photo Courtesy of Chuck LaChiusa @ www.buffaloah.com
Additionally, here is a comprehensive archive, courtesy of David Torke of fixbuffalo.blogspot.com.
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Comment Options
STEEL
What? You mean we will be losing another possible shovel ready site? How will Buffalo ever grow again with all this obstructionism.
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allthingsbuffalo
WOW. i definitely had no hope in the orphanage ever being saved. its nice to see some good projects going on around the inner east-side.
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wizardofza
Great to see this beauty possibly being restored.
Though, housing might be iffy. I bet this place is haunted as hell.
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PaulBuffalo
Thank you for this news. Stories like these are why I read BuffaloRising.
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sbrof
Fantastic news! I also felt that these were doomed for demolition and I guess some of them still are but 4/9.. could be worse. Do we know which ones will be demoed?
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reflip
Terrific! This, combined with what the BN is reporting about the Livery, makes me happy to be a new resident by choice.
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heathersmiles
What is wrong with the five buildings that are being demolished? Aren't these worthy of preservation?
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suburbandesire
On his fixBuffalo blog David has a collection of slideshows and links to a recent photo show up in Toronto about this place. Some neighborhood maps and gruesome story about the place from back in the day.
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Biniszkiewicz
I'm impressed this project is coming to fruition, if indeed it comes to fruition. It's been a long time in the making. Great reuse of a charming site in a difficult, yet accessible neighborhood.
The reason for my caution is the caveat that the deal is held up by short term financing. What does that mean? Isn't this a tax credit candidate? It hasn't won approval for those yet, has it? Is this project a competitor in this year's round of credit applications or is the majority of the financing already in place?
Does the project mean that CAO is going to give up their digs on Harvard? Canisius High School was once interested in buying their site on Harvard (near Main and Michigan) upon which to build an athletic field.
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Joshua
At least 4 of the buildings will be rehabed including the Chapel. Thanks to Fr. Ron and the St. Martin de Porres Parish Community for working so hard on this property and the neighborhood. I can't wait to see the progress on Dodge St.
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hamp
Great news.
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bisonherd
I wish in adding the new apartments they would try to reconstruct the original look of the original building...because this really was an integral part of the eastside, kensington, olmstead park community and its return is an integral part of reknitting that section of the community back together.
Furthermore it does add to the pressure to deck over the kensington!
One last thing comes to mind....now that the German Roman Catholic Orphanage has attracted interest....is there any question how much longer places like St Vincents Orphanage and Notre Dame de Lourdes must wait to be redeveloped...especially since they are much closer to Main Street and thus much more visable and closer to the development corridor.
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skarnath
The bad news is that DHCR announced the tax credit awards this past Monday, and St. Martin Village was not funded - a big setback for this project.
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jt1983
this building is so amazing in person. i cannot wait to see this area come back to life.
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