Gov. Kathy Hochul rang in a new day Monday at the Commodore Perry Homes, as excavators ripped down the brick walls of long-empty buildings in the background.
Demolition work began this spring for the $254 million renovation and rebuild project that will see the derelict walk-up housing demolished, two of the three towers refurbished and new buildings that will include apartments, recreational spaces and retail.
Hochul, speaking at a groundbreaking Monday, recounted coming to the housing complex with her mother, a social worker, to offer help to the people who lived there.
“These residents matter,” Hochul said. “They have value to our community, and never, ever should have been overlooked for as long as they have been.”
The Perry projects, as they are commonly known, had become a symbol of blight in the middle of a neighborhood resurgence. Developers have been putting up new apartment buildings and refurbishing historic properties in the adjacent First Ward and downtown neighborhoods in recent decades.
The Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority, owners and managers of the housing complex, have long sought funding sources for the major project required to reshape one of its largest properties.
The project will be paid for with a mixture of private financing and public funding, including more than $100 million in support from the state in the form of subsidies, grants and tax breaks.
Demolition of the dilapidated…
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