Three Proposals Make a Cut for the Mohawk Ramp Site – Buffalo Rising
The City of Buffalo has reduced the number of redevelopment proposals for the Mohawk Ramp site from six to three. According to a selection committee, the three proposals that best met the evaluation criteria were:
- BFC Partners and CB Emmanuel Realty
- Douglas Development
- SAA EVI, McGuire Development and Passero Associates
The following were excluded from the review:
- Gold Wynn and Colby Development
- Savarino and 34 Group
- Development of Uniland
The 629-space parking ramp, built in 1959, occupies a 1.1 acre site along Mohawk Street between Ellicott Street and Washington Street.
The finalists:
BFC Partners and CB Emmanuel Realty
Components:
- 203 affordable units
- 23,113 sq.ft. commercial space
- Mix of restaurant, fitness center, flagship store or coworking space
- 285 parking spaces
- Mohawk Street Visual Activation
- Long-term parking for GO bikes
- Partnership with GO Buffalo Niagara / Go Bike Buffalo
Douglas Development
Components:
- 600 residential units in total on several sites
- 200 new apartments and 300 new parking spaces above the existing parking lot, 10% of which are dedicated to affordable housing
- 1,500 sq.ft. cafe along Mohawk Street
- 1,500 sq.ft. R&D lab on the ground floor that will cover the future of mobility in Buffalo
- 1,500 sq.ft. ground detail along Washington Street
- More than 800 parking spaces in total on the site
- Redevelopment and adaptive reuse of Simon properties near the Mohawk ramp site offering 400 new apartments including 10% dedicated to affordable housing and additional retail businesses on the ground floor
SAA EVI, McGuire Development and Passero Associates
Components:
- 233 apartments; 168 will be subject to income restrictions
- Existing parking structure removed
- 268 new parking spaces on three levels
- 6,500 sq.ft. shop on the ground floor
- Mohawk Commons Incubation Hub will focus on M / WBE start-ups
- 2,300 sq.ft. 13th floor restaurant
- The mobility lane along the northern boundary of the property creates an east-west mobility backbone to promote foot traffic on the site
- Courtyard located in the center of the building
The criteria for evaluating the proposal include:
A. Quality of the plan
- Must integrate transportation and justify usage choices that reflect a strong demand for access to downtown public transit and downtown life
- Preference for proposals that integrate housing, including affordable housing
- Diversity and inclusion must be mainstreamed and must demonstrate a plan for meaningful participation of certified MWBEs, workforce participation or sheltered mentoring opportunities at all levels of the project (funding, management, design and construction
B. Experience and qualifications
- Experience working and partnering with communities, neighbors and business stakeholders
- Neighborhood economic development and job creation
- Diversity within the development team
C. Financial considerations
- Complete budget, sources and uses and a reasonable development budget
- Financial feasibility based on reasonable development and operating proforma
- Demonstrated financial capacity to carry out the project
D. Competitive preferences
- Preference given to mixed-use developments that integrate affordable housing
- Proposals that consider creative and cost-effective solutions for structured parking transport hubs will be favorable
- Submissions with strong community engagement plans that meet or exceed MWBE targets will be more favorable
- Submissions that consider a street level activation and increase urban dynamism while facilitating a pedestrian and cyclist friendly streetscape will be more favorable
- Submissions that consider the overall improvement of the public domain will be more favorable
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