Sycamore Village: A 24-home community that embraces the concept of "new urbanism" in a suburban setting

Sycamore Village combines the conveniences of being in the city with the charm and quaintness of a suburban community. This living experience embraces the concept of "new urbanism," which promotes compact, walkable communities. Twenty-four brand new homes are being constructed, each model has its own unique look. Each home in Sycamore Village features an arts and crafts style exterior with cultured stone accents, covered front porches overlooking a park-like setting, Pella windows, ceramic tile floors, whirlpool tub, trey ceilings in the master bedrooms, recessed lighting, Corian countertops walk-in closets, dual sink vanities in some master baths and first floor 1/2 baths. Since the project is located in the designated NYS Empire Zone, property tax relief may be available to the homeowners. Under the Real Property Tax Exemption, new home owners will not have to pay the increase in property taxes, only property taxes on the value of the property before the new home was built. This is applied to both the city and Erie County property tax. After a new home is built in the Empire Zone, a new home owner has one year from the date of completion of the construction to apply for the exemption. The city is experiencing strong interest in Sycamore Village. The downtown area, in recent years, has become one of the fastest growing residential neighborhoods in WNY, and they are now adding single family homes to the lofts and condo projects. A "First Look at Sycamore Village" open house was held in the fall, with close to 100 people expressing interest in the 24 new homes. Of the 24 homes, four are reserved for low to moderate-income level residents, which will be chosen via a lottery system. Remediation efforts at Sycamore Village included the demolition of three existing structures and NYS contributed over $1 million to the remediation of the site. Immediately across Sycamore St. are Davis, Camp and Kane Sts. where the city has invested over $3 million of federal HOME grant funds to construct 19 homes for sale to low-income residents as part of the mayor's Livable Communities initiative. To date, four homes have been sold in Sycamore Village. Construction is underway in phase I of the development, with homes being built by Lamparelli Construction. Homes were designed by Dean Sutton Architects, and the engineering and survey work was done by Nussbaumer and Clarke, all local Buffalo companies.The implementation of this project has required new water, sewer, sanitary, electric, gas, and telephone services to the new homes. All of these are currently under construction. In addition, streetscape enhancements to Sycamore, Mortimer, Jefferson and Mathews Sts. will take form in new curbs, sidewalks, trees, fencing, street lighting and lawns. There will be a total of nine different styles of homes being built for Sycamore Village, each with three or four bedrooms and 1,400 to 1,700 s/f. Most homes will have rear garages, many accessed from the newly constructed Sydni Ln.