Ciminelli Real Estate begins $19 million renovation of former Mentholatum building

Rendering, 1360 Niagara Street - Buffalo, NY 

Buffalo, NY Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. will begin work soon on the renovation of the former Mentholatum building located at 1360 Niagara St. Ciminelli recently received acceptance of its application to the NYSDEC Brownfield Cleanup program, triggering an official start for the project.  The total project cost is $19 million, with completion expected in December.

Initial work will include site remediation and abatement within the structure.  Amber Holycross, senior development manager at Ciminelli, said that once the interior abatement work is finished, work can commence on the renovation itself.

“Upon completion of abatement inside the building, work will begin to restore the window openings–which were previously blocked in–to their original size,” said Holycross  “We’ll be installing replica daylight factory windows, reflective of the original windows from the early 1900’s, on all facades.  It’s exactly like what we did at Bethune Lofts.” 

The abatement and window replacement work is expected to be completed in six months.

Located in the Niagara St. Corridor, the building was originally built by the Mentholatum Co. in the early 1900’s. Ciminelli purchased the 80,000 s/f building from The Garrett Leather Co. in February 2016.  Redevelopment plans include renovation of the former 80,000 s/f daylight factory to include 51 residential 1 and 2 bedroom units on floors 1-4, in addition to 4,500 s/f of retail space on the first floor.  35 indoor parking spaces will be made available in the basement level of the building, with an additional 50 parking spaces on site.  Ciminelli is also reviewing options to restore the large scale Mentholatum sign facing I-190 to its original iconic state.

Adjacent parcels located at 1336 and 1340 Niagara St. were also part of the purchase and will be readied for future development under the Brownfield Cleanup program.  Plans for those parcels have not yet been determined.

Headquartered in Williamsville, Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. specializes in providing commercial real estate services including development, facilities management, asset management, tenant representation, real estate consulting, and leasing to over 350 international, national, and local clients in Western and Central New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.