Incentivizing Adaptive Reuse Development

   Many historic commercial buildings in Erie County are vacant and abandoned - relics of the prior industrial boom in Western New York. These structures create urban blight, discourage adjacent redevelopment, and in many cases are no longer on municipal tax rolls. In an effort to incentivize adaptive redevelopment of these buildings and revitalize the surrounding neighborhoods, the ECIDA Board of Directors initiated an "Adaptive Reuse Policy" in 2008. 

     The policy, which offers tax incentives for developers with qualified redevelopment plans for these structures, has redeveloped millions of square feet icluding creating thousands of housing units in former factories and commercial buildings in the City of Buffalo. The transformations of these structures has spurred log-term community benefits including adjacent economic growth in these revitalized neigborhoods and new tax revenue. Without ECIDA Adaptive Reuse incentives, the redevelopment of these often century-old structures is far too cost-prohibitive, causing developers to choose new construction in other less costly locations in the surrounding suburbs.

     One successful example of the ECIDA Adaptive Reuse Policy creating  is the former Trico windshield wiper factory (photo at right) in the City of Buffalo, now home to 242 apartments and some commercial space. This massive redevelopment of five deteriorated, abandoned buildings on an entire city block into a thriving apartment community could not have been completed without ECIDA Adaptive Reuse incentives.  The entire strucutre sat decaying and collapsing for decades, and took nearly ten years to finance and complete - a prime example of how difficult and expensive a process this type of historic redevelopment can be.

     Adaptive Reuse incentives have also been extremely successful in creating tax revenue where there once was little or none. An independent 2016 report commissioned by the ECIDA found that, from 2008 to 2016, the adaptive reuse program redeveloped 4 million square feet of previously blighted commerial space, and the economic impact is more than $750 million. Read the 2016 Adaptive Reuse Study Summary here.

     Adaptive Reuse project qualifications include:

• Vacant/severely underutilized for a minimum of 3 years
• At least 20 years old
• Presenting functional challenges to redevelopment
• Not generating significant rental income
• Demonstrated evidence of financial obstacle to development without ECIDA
• Demonstrated project support from relevant governmental entities 

     For more information about the ECIDA Adaptive Reuse Policy, please CLICK HERE, or contact our experienced Business Development Team at 716-856-6525.