D’Youville University is hoping to score on a double this week in its development game at the Buffalo Planning Board, as it seeks city approvals for both its new medical school in downtown Buffalo and a new residence hall to be constructed on the West Side site where it originally began to build that school.
Working with Uniland Development Co. in both cases, the small university is seeking to advance the specialty that it already has developed in the health sciences by creating a new school to train doctors to fill a growing workforce gap locally. “The new medical school will have a transformative impact on D’Youville, the City of Buffalo and the Western New York region,” Uniland Director of Planning and Design Kevin Kirk wrote in a letter to the Planning Board.
At the same time, D’Youville needs a new location to house its growing student population, while also filling a literal hole in the ground on the West Side where it suspended construction work that already had begun.
“This project is part of D’Youville University’s ongoing effort to enhance campus life and meet the growing demand for student housing,” Kirk wrote in a separate letter.
Doctor, doctor
Founded more than a century ago, D’Youville already has schools of nursing, pharmacy and health professions, offering degrees in fields such as health services administration, physical therapy, substance abuse counseling, chiropractic medicine, nurse practitioner, nursing management and sports and fitness management. And it built and opened its $30 million Health Professions Hub building in 2021 to support those degrees.
But D’Youville announced plans in February 2024 to open a new College of Osteopathic Medicine to expand its focus on health professions by training up to 720 students at a time within six years. That would help address the local and national shortage of doctors and other health care workers, and would represent only the second medical school locally, after University at Buffalo, and the second osteopathic school in upstate New York.
“At full capacity, the program will bring hundreds of new students to the city, strengthen D’Youville’s undergraduate health programs, attract new talent and build a stronger pipeline to local healthcare providers, many of which are facing critical workforce shortages,” Kirk wrote.
D’Youville initially planned to open the school on its campus by constructing a new four-story academic building at 443 West Ave., using a 2.1-acre university-owned former parking lot next to the Hub. The $175 million project would have included $100 million for construction by a Texas developer, with $50 million in reserves and $25 million for startup costs for the new school. And the school thought it had everything lined up.
But by May, after construction already had begun with environmental cleanup and excavation of a giant hole to frame the shape of the building, high construction and financing costs prompted D’Youville to call a halt and re-evaluate its plans, leading to its decision to shift to reusing an existing building instead.
Now, D’Youville and Uniland are working to bring the new school to a five-story office building that the developer already owns at 285 Delaware Ave. That’s a 1.25-acre site on the east side of Delaware, midway between Chippewa and West Tupper streets, and already zoned as “mixed-use core.” The rectangular building includes an additional level below grade.
Plans call for renovations to the interior of the 134,964-square-foot building to accommodate the medical school’s higher-education needs, including demolition and replacement of partitions, doors, ceilings, HVAC and lighting. Core elements like the elevators, stairs and bathrooms will remain, as will the existing parking lot that wraps around from the north side of the building to the back, and the existing sidewalks and landscaping.
The only exterior changes will include a new sidewalk and minor landscaping on the south side patio, and a new building generator that will take up three parking spaces in the far southeast corner of the rear 73-space lot. The outside facade of limestone, porcelain tile, metal panel and glass will otherwise remain as is. The building sits along Delaware, with its driveway entrance on the north side, along with the ramp to the basement parking.
The site will have a total of 85 parking spaces, including 12 underground, which D’Youville officials and Uniland expect to be mostly used by the faculty and staff of the new school, expected to range between 80 and 100 people. Meanwhile, of the 720 students, about half will be attending the school at any given time while the rest will be conducting medical rotations at off-site medical facilities.
For most students, D’Youville will provide a dedicated shuttle service to the school from its campus a mile away, and officials expect some to walk, ride bicycles or take ride-share services. Uniland also will offer fee-based monthly parking at its ramp at 250 Delaware just down the street from the new medical school for those who need it.
If approved by the Planning Board and granted building permits, the $30 million project by Uniland Construction Corp. is expected to take 12 months to complete.
Home sweet home
Meanwhile, D’Youville now plans to fill the hole it created at 443 West and 228 Plymouth Ave. with a new five-story apartment building for graduate medical students, along with a level of underground parking. Designed by Elev8 Architecture and Carmina Wood Design, the 146,002-square-foot wood-frame building on a concrete-and-steel podium structure will include 188 apartments and 1,160 square feet of leasable commercial space, for a coffee shop.
Specifically, the plan for the L-shaped building features 180 one-bedroom apartments of 495 square feet each; five one-bedroom “plus” units of 665 square feet, one on each floor; and three two-bedroom units of 1,090 to 1,200 square feet, with one each on the second, third and fourth floors. The facade will feature metal panels with stone and wood accents, vinyl windows and storefront glass.
The first floor will have 35 units, plus the entrance and lobby. The second will have 37 units, along with an open atrium to the first level and a fitness center. The next two floors will each have 40 apartments and a study lounge, while the fifth floor will have 36 apartments, a yoga/Zen studio and a connected indoor amenity space and outdoor rooftop patio facing West Avenue.
The new building “is intended to fill a critical housing void on campus,” Kirk wrote, while also enhancing D’Youville’s “ability to recruit and retain graduate students by offering high-quality housing options.” And it will “reduce pressure on surrounding residential neighborhoods by consolidating student demand in a dedicated facility.”
“The facility will expand our capacity to accommodate students, foster a stronger sense of community, and support the university’s continued role as a stabilizing presence in Buffalo’s historic West Side neighborhood,” Kirk wrote. “The intent is to enhance the livability of the area, support academic success, and contribute to the long-term vibrancy of the neighborhood.”
The project will include 79 surface parking spaces and 67 basement spaces in two lots. Cars will enter from Plymouth, while pedestrian entrances are from both West and Plymouth, with the main entrance at the outer corner of the L shape and a secondary entrance, elevator and bike storage at the inner corner. About 22% of the site will be greenspace, with two outside amenity areas on either side of the building, including one with four tables and a bench.
The site is zoned for “educational campus” and already has a planned-unit designation to accommodate the project. The building is 59 feet tall, just inside the 60-foot limit. However, the five-story height is more than the four-story maximum, so a zoning variance is still required, along with site plan approval. A narrow privately owned residential property will sit between the two parking lots and entrances, surrounded by a privacy fence.
If approved, the $30 million project will take 16 to 18 months for Uniland Construction to build. The Buffalo and Erie County Industrial Land Development Corp., which previously approved a $45 million taxable bond issuance for the school in August 2024, is also considering an additional new $85 million bond on Wednesday, including $65 million in tax-exempt bonds.
Reach Jonathan D. Epstein at (716) 849-4478 or jepstein@buffnews.com.
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