Expanded loan fund provides additional downtown redevelopment opportunities - by Mayor Byron Brown

Businesses now have even more of an opportunity to join downtown Buffalo’s resurgence following our recent announcement of the expanded Buffalo Building Reuse Loan Program (BBRLF) on December 15, 2015. The newly expanded program triples the number of available low interest short-term loans granted to developers who need to bridge financing gaps on redeveloping vacant or underused buildings in downtown Buffalo. As chairman of the Buffalo Urban Development Corp. (BUDC), I’ve partnered with the Buffalo Niagara Partnership and New York Business Development Corp. in growing the fund’s capacity by securing additional funding from five Buffalo area banks. Thanks to commitments from Evans Bank, First Niagara Bank, HSBC Bank, Key Bank and M&T Bank, the BBRLF will now be able to assist up to10 projects per year with up to $750,000 of low interest gap financing for a maximum term of 54 months. Established at my request in 2012 with an $11.25 million funding commitment over three years in city funds, the Buffalo Building Reuse Project is our strategy to make downtown Buffalo more competitive for private investment, and to transform vacant or underutilized commercial properties into thriving residential and mixed-used spaces. In order to further help developers bring older structures back to life, the city of Buffalo and Empire State Development established the BBRLF fund with an initial allocation of $3 million. This new collaboration is expected to spur increased investment and represents a shared vision toward continuing to improve the vitality of downtown Buffalo, as we saw first-hand at The Planing Mill, where we announced the expanded loan fund program. This $8 million adaptive re-use project that includes market-rate loft-style apartments and class A office space was among the first projects to be awarded funding through the program. Applications for the current quarterly round of funding will open on January 1 and close on March 31. BUDC will consider and approve all loans in accordance with its credit procedures and policies. Investors will also find BUDC’s newly released 2016 Downtown Development Guide a helpful resource of available tools and incentives related to the Buffalo’s downtown building boom. The Preservation Ready Survey also provides an inventory of downtown properties that are eligible for Historic Tax Credits. Those interested in applying or learning more about the BBRLF should contact Brandye Merriweather, BUDC vice president of Downtown Development at 716-856-6525 ext. 131 or [email protected]. Additional information on the Buffalo Building Reuse Loan Program, the 2016 Downtown Development Guide, and the Preservation Ready Survey can be found at www.buffalourbandevelopment.com. Byron Brown is the mayor of Buffalo and chairman of the Buffalo Urban Development Corp., Buffalo N.Y.