Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus | Clinical, Research, and Academic Excellence

Restore-NY aids medical campus expansion

By Annemarie Franczyk
Business First of Buffalo
January 15, 2008

The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus has been promised a $4.5 million grant for renovation of the former Trico Products Corp. complex and one of many to receive state funding.

The site was purchased last year in order expand capacity on the campus.

The grant is from Restore New York, a program that provides municipalities with funds to revitalize commercial and residential properties to spur economic development and neighborhood growth. The Western New York region received $19.2 million in Restore-NY funding -- the largest of any region in the state.

The City of Buffalo submitted the application on behalf of the medical campus.

"Our goal is to help grow local biotech companies while at the same time trying to attract companies from Canada, internationally, and across the United States to the medical campus," said Matthew Enstice, campus executive director.

The medical campus and the University at Buffalo bought the Trico complex and the former M. Wile Co. for $20 million last fall. The properties were auctioned off in federal bankruptcy court to settle the case of Stephen McGarvey LLC and its affiliate, Century Centre LP.

The grant will fund renovations to a four-story structure that's part of the Trico property. The complex includes a second, six-story building.

Other Buffalo area projects that were funded include: $2.5 million for the demolition of the vacant Spaulding Fibre plant in Tonawanda that will make way for a new industrial park; $5.7 million for a community redevelopment initiative on Buffalo's East Side; $500,203 to demolish a former incinerator and the creation of a commercial corridor along Erie Avenue in North Tonawanda; and $1.5 million to rehab Commerce Square in Lockport.

Also, Restore New York funding has also been designated for three projects in the southern Erie, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties. Officials announced $1.5 million for Academy Place in Gowanda, $2 million for the Jamestown Renaissance Project and $1 million for Agway Demo project in Olean.