Preservation Buffalo Niagara honors city, BERC and Young and Wright for rehab and reuse project

Mayor Byron Brown accepted the 2009 Preservation Buffalo Niagara Award for Rehabilitation/Adaptive Reuse of a Building, for work done to the new Beverly A. Gray Business Incubator. As the former home of the East Utica Library, renovations were made to transform the site into the now state-of-the-art Beverly A. Gray Business Incubator and BERC satellite office. Design services for the renovation of this 7,450 s/f building were provided by Young and Wright Architecture, which served as a driving force of the project's nomination for this award. "This award serves as a great recognition of the work done by my administration to not only improve our residents' quality of life, but to preserve the rich history and culture of our city," said Brown. "The Beverly Gray Business Incubator, which is part of a much larger revitalization of the city's east side, will help to further strengthen and enhance this important city business district. I'm pleased to have received this award on behalf of the city's efforts, and I look forward to making continued progress for this area and the entire city of Buffalo." Currently, the BERC has over $1 million in Community Development Block Grant funding to assist business owners on Jefferson Ave. with façade improvements. Existing projects included in the Jefferson Ave. revitalization include the $2 million Beverly A. Gray Business Professional Service Incubator, which will house 6-8 start up businesses; the $1.2 million Jefferson Retail Plaza, which received $60,000 of funding from the BERC; the $2.2 million Jefferson Ave. Head start Daycare Center, which received a $300,000 investment from the BERC and Mandela's Market on Jefferson & East Ferry, which received $800,000 in private investments. "The Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corp. is dedicated to revitalizing Jefferson Ave.'s commercial district," said Brian Reilly, president of BERC. "Recognition of our work through this award is an important step to a total revitalization of Jefferson Avenue, which the Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corp.is pleased to be a part of."