The Central Terminal has been vacant for all but two of the 47 years Patra Mangus has lived on Fillmore Avenue near Broadway, so when she learned about Thursday’s announcement of a development team for the former train station, it was something of a dream come true.
”It was terrible in those early years to watch the Central Terminal crumble and be defaced, but I didn’t ever doubt that something good would happen with that building,” Mangus told The Buffalo News. “This will be like a lighthouse for the neighborhood.”
Three members make up the development team: CB Emmanuel Realty, based downstate in Queens Village; the Alexander Company, headquartered in Madison, Wis.; and Rise Community Capital, a business that fosters projects across the country.
The team was chosen after an extensive selection process to remake the Art Deco complex into a thriving commercial, entertainment and residential East Side hub, a multiphase project envisioned to take 10 years and $300 million to accomplish.
Setting the stage for Thursday was $61 million that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced in June 2022 from the state and several philanthropic supporters, including the City of Buffalo and the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation.
The state also helped the Central Terminal Restoration Corp. develop a master plan that included considerable public involvement.
”Through grit and determination, the Central Terminal was saved by many,” said Monica Pellegrino Faix, the nonprofit’s executive director. “This is a big celebration that the future is real, that our neighborhood is important and that together we are accomplishing what once seemed impossibly out of reach.”
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