Uniland's Avant honored with NEDA's Project of the Year

Uniland Development Company's Avant was named Project of the Year at the Northeastern Economic Developers Association (NEDA) Annual Conference in Burlington, Vt. NEDA's Project of the Year Award recognizes a major economic development project based on job creation; capital investment; leveraging of development resources; use of public/private and/or intergovernmental partnerships; benefits to the surrounding community and/or environment; innovation; design excellence; transportation considerations and other direct economic impacts. "Uniland is proud of this award and grateful for the continued commitment and cooperation of the public and private sector, many of whom are behind the success of the Avant project and also this recognition," said Carl Montante, Uniland president and managing director. "Although today Uniland was honored, the city, county, state, our utility partners and even surrounding neighbors and community activists played critical roles in helping to bring Avant to fruition. It is truly the result of a team effort." Founded in 1956, NEDA champions effective, innovative economic development practice and promotes professional economic and industrial development throughout the Northeastern U.S. "As the leading economic development organization in the northeast, we are exposed to several outstanding projects that play a role in shaping communities throughout the country," said Eric Anderson, NEDA executive director. "The thing that really impresses me about this project is that there are people in the Northeast that are already using it as a model. Uniland proved that this type of development is possible and others are already following suit proving that Avant is a true best practice." Avant is a project of Uniland Development Company. French for "forward," Avant's classic glass curtain wall profile reflects Buffalo today and tomorrow. Sustainably-designed, this adaptive reuse of a former Federal Building covers an entire city block and includes three distinct but interrelated functions: an Embassy Suites on the first 8 floors, class A office space on the next four floors and 28 exceptional residences on the top three floors. Buffalo's Stieglitz Snyder Architects and IBC Engineers worked with Uniland's in-house team to take the "good bones" of the original structure and create an elegant, sustainable center of 24-hour activity. To read the complete Avant case study visit www.nedaonline.org and learn more about Avant at www.avantbuffalo.com.