Buffalo developer proposes 5-story apartment building sparking concerns from nearby residents
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Deep South Taco’s location on Hertel Avenue could be forced to shut down if a development gets the go-ahead.
Buffalo real estate agent Jacob Stiller is proposing to build a five-story building that houses a mix of businesses and living spaces.
According to Forward Development LLC, the project would bring 52 new apartments and 6,500 square feet of ground-floor commercial space to the intersection of Hertel and Starin Avenues.
The intent is to have the apartments at market rate. There would also be two levels of underground parking as well as commercial parking on the side of the building.
Stiller told WIVB News 4 that the project will be passive housing, which he said is a relatively new design standard for buildings that focuses on sustainability.
“It reduces heating and cooling energy consumption by 80 to 90 percent compared to conventional construction,” Stiller said. “We’re also using mass timber as the super structure of the building.”
Stiller said using mass timber is convenient for everyone because it speeds up the process of building a structure, meaning less noise for the community and less waste for the environment.
“There are a lot of other cities that have it,” Stiller said. “This is going to be new for the Western New York area.”
On the contrary, neighbors of where the project would be built have concerns. They said Stiller has no prior developmental experience and they are nervous not knowing what his funding sources are.
“How long is this project going to take?” said Buffalo resident Bob Bredenberg. “We don’t want this intersection disrupted. We walk around here all the time, we drive around here all the time.”
Another concern from nearby residents is traffic. Bredenberg said the intersection is busy enough and parking is already an ongoing issue.
“If I’m reading the room here from some of the people I talked to, most people here hope it falls through,” Bredenberg said. “I’m not really sure I can be convinced. I don’t know how much they listen to the neighbors on these kinds of things anyways so we will see what happens.”
Stiller said there is a lot to accomplish before the project is in motion. He will be submitting plans to the city so he can appear before the zoning board of appeals in the next few months.
If approved, he expects the project to take anywhere from 10 to 14 months to complete.
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Trina Catterson joined the News 4 team in 2024. She previously worked at WETM-TV in Elmira, a sister station of WIVB. See more of her work here.
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