Two major Jefferson Avenue developments won city Zoning Board of Appeals approval, allowing the East Side project to move ahead as proposed.
“This is a benefit to the Cold Spring area,” said the Rev. James Lewis, chairman of the zoning board.
The approvals represent the first large-scale commercial projects to be considered for zoning variances since the city’s recently enacted Green Code went into effect.

The developers behind a pair of East Side projects on Jefferson Avenue are inviting residents from the surrounding neighborhoods to a community meeting in late June to discuss the proposed new apartment and medical buildings.
The development team – which includes Nick Sinatra and ImmediateCare founder Dr. Greg Daniel, as well as People Inc. and CSS Construction – will seek public input on their plans for the new Jefferson Health and Wellness Center and the Jefferson Avenue Apartments.

Elim Christian Fellowship Church is proposing the first new housing in the Highland Park neighborhood. The 30-unit affordable housing project would be built along Holden Street south of Bennett Village Terrace and across from Elim’s parking lot and chapel. Elim is working with Belmont Housing and Silvestri Architects on the $7 million project that would be constructed by CSS Construction.

A proposed mixed-income apartment complex on Jefferson Avenue won praise from Buffalo Planning Board members Monday night for its design and anticipated impact on an empty two-block section of the East Side thoroughfare.

A two-building, mixed-use development for Jefferson Avenue in the Masten District was given a favorable review by the Planning Board yesterday, though formal action was not taken. Sinatra & Company Real Estate, Creative Structures Services, People Inc. and Bellamy Enterprises are teaming up on the $21 million project with Long Associates Architects providing the building designs and site plan coordination.

Arecord crowd showed up at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center today as Mayor Byron W. Brown delivered a State of the City address that outlined a continued freeze on property taxes, increased police presence at Canalside, and further emphasis on redeveloping the East Side.