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ECIDA to boost Canisius science center

Business First - by James Fink
Date: Thursday, November 4, 2010

Canisius College is about to move a step closer to the much-anticipated renovation of a former Sears Roebuck & Co. store, converting it to a new science department center.

The Erie County Industrial Development Agency, through its Buffalo and Erie County Industrial Land Development Corp. affiliate, is expected to approve a tax-exempt financing package to help Canisius underwrite the conversion of the four-story building on Main Street. Agency directors will consider the financing package when they meet Nov. 8.

The $16 million project is a hallmark of the college’s ongoing expansion and renovation of the Main Street campus. Canisius bought the 237,000-square-foot building and adjoining three-story parking garage nearly four years ago. It was part of a complex deal that saw the structure’s former tenant, HealthNow New York, move to the central business district.

From the beginning, Canisius said it wanted to move the science department into the building.

Pat Richey, vice president of business and finance, said the college opted to go through the ECIDA affiliate to take advantage of allocations allowed under the federal stimulus package. Those benefits expire at the end of the year.
Normally, Canisius would have gone to the New York State Dormitory Authority for tax-exempt financing.
“This saves us a little bit,” Richey said.

He expects bids to hit the streets this winter and the first of four renovation phases to start by late spring or early summer. The work, much of it focused on converting first-floor office and reception space into classrooms and labs, should be done in time for the fall 2012 semester. Other phases will follow.

The project is expected to have a $9.9 million economic impact on the region.

Besides the Canisius project, the ILDC will consider offering tax-exempt packages for two other Buffalo projects.

• 134 High Street LLC, an affiliate of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, is seeking a package to help finance construction of a parking ramp for 1,800 vehicles on High Street near Buffalo General Hospital. The project carries a $34 million price tag, with construction due to start this winter. The ramp is considered a crucial piece of infrastructure for continued development of the medical campus.

• Medaille College has asked for a tax-exempt financing package to help underwrite $12 million worth of expansion and renovation on its campus.
Also on the Nov. 8 agenda:

• Renovations of two historic downtown Buffalo buildings will be the subject of inducement packages.
The first is a plan by Anthony Baynes and Kent Frey to renovate the former Corn Exchange Building at 100 S. Elmwood Ave. – now the Robertson Cataract Building – into a mixed-use project anchored by 26 lofts. The project will cost $3 million.

Also, an affiliate of Kenney Shelton Liptak & Nowak LLP is seeking a $2.9 million inducement package to help with the law firm’s plan to renovate the Calumet Building at Chippewa and Franklin streets for new offices. The first floor will remain for restaurant and other uses.

• Western New York Immediate Care is seeking an inducement package to help finance a $3.27 million conversion project of a 7,400-square-foot building at 2497 Delaware Ave. for its first Buffalo location. Western New York Immediate Care has three suburban sites.