The former Towne Restaurant building on Allen Street closed in 2023 after serving customers for 51 years. Evergreen Health has purchased the site, planning for a pharmacy and dentist office at the busy corner with Elmwood Avenue.
It’s not all Greek to you
After a long history as a Greek restaurant and diner, the Towne Restaurant in Allentown is getting a new life – as a pharmacy and dental office.
Evergreen Health last week completed its purchase of the two-story former restaurant building at 186 Allen St., paying $1.65 million. The nonprofit health care organization plans to renovate the 14,554-square-foot building, converting the 82-year-old structure into a mix of medical care and administrative offices, giving it a prominent location in a popular neighborhood, at the southeast corner of Allen and Elmwood Avenue.
Evergreen will relocate a dental practice from its main campus at 206 S. Elmwood, at West Chippewa Street, with hopes of expanding it. The nonprofit will also open a retail pharmacy in the Towne building, adding to one it also plans to open at its new Kensington-Bailey location, and one it already has at 800 Hertel Ave. Both will be on the first floor at Towne, while it will convert the second floor to staff offices.
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Justin Azzarella, Evergreen’s chief administrative officer, said the location is ideal because it is near where many of Evergreen’s current patients live and work, specifically the 14201 ZIP code, as well as nearby 14213 and 14222. The site also has 30 parking spaces, sits on a bus route and is in a walkable neighborhood.
“The location is very central to where we are. It just made a lot of sense, strategically, for us,” Azzarella said. “It was just perfect to all the types of people we serve.”
“We’ve all heard that pharmacies are closing in Western New York. We also see a real opportunity to grow,” he said.
Azzarella said the agency will hire architects and a construction manager to determine what work is needed, but all the changes are expected to be internal, not on the exterior, so he does not anticipate needing Planning Board approval or a special-use permit. He said the pharmacy and dental practice would probably have 20 employees between them, plus an undetermined number of office staff.
“We just plan to make sure it’s beautiful, like our other buildings,” he said. He added that officials have also heard about concerns for security, but noted that the nonprofit always has a guard on its premises, and it will still have just one entrance, on Allen.
“We’re looking forward to being some of the eyes on the street for that corner and that neighborhood,” he said.
Welcome to Buffalo Next. This newsletter from The Buffalo News will bring you the latest coverage on the changing Buffalo Niagara economy – from real estate to health care to startups. Read more at BuffaloNext.com.
Who pays the most?
Ever wonder who are the largest property owners and taxpayers in Erie County? Here’s your answer. And it might not be who you think.
Two of the top three are utility companies, with National Grid taking the top spot. Its taxable real estate holdings in Erie County total $1.44 billion in value, from all the substations, transformers, power lines and rights-of-way that it holds in order to sustain its transmission network.
National Fuel Gas Co. is No. 3, with holdings valued at $1.02 billion.
In between is Benderson Development Co., the family-owned retail real estate developer that owns prominent big-box, strip and other storefront properties all over the county, and across the country. It has $1.13 billion in property value just in Erie County.
From there, it is a big drop to the next tier. Ellicott Development Co., owned by Carl and William Paladino, has long been reported as the largest landlord in the city of Buffalo. Across the county, it is the fourth-largest property taxpayer, with a real estate portfolio valued at $500.7 million, followed by Uniland Development, led by Michael Montante, at $457.6 million, rounding out the top five.
New York State Electric & Gas Corp. comes in sixth, with $282 million, and then the combined holdings of railroad companies Norfolk Southern, CSX Corp. and Conrail, totaling $259.7 million. Real estate brokerage and development firm M.J. Peterson Corp. – which owns affordable housing complexes across the area – holds $250.9 million in property, followed by Verizon Communications at $214.7 million and Ciminelli Real Estate Corp., at $197.8 million.
Other major taxpayers include Larkin Development Group, Clover Management, Benchmark Associates, McGuire Development Co., West Herr Automotive Group and Wegmans Food Markets.
Paying for slides
As work continues on the effort to transform the former LaSalle Park into Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Park, the Buffalo Urban Development Corp. received another $4 million from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation to allow the agency to advance elements of the project with long lead times – like buying playground equipment.
BUDC applied for the grant after its project manager, Gardiner & Theobald, realized that securing the new playground equipment, as well as completing additional shoreline design services, would need to start much earlier for the second phase of the project. Those pieces need to be advanced before BUDC and its construction manager, Gilbane Building Co., can finalize and sign a contract for the second phase, expected in early 2025.
About $3.7 million of the grant will be used by the city to purchase playground equipment and other “time-sensitive items,” while the remaining $255,000 will be used for value-engineering design work by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates that was approved in August.
THE LATEST
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Upstate Niagara gets tax breaks for its big West Seneca expansion.
The pro soccer stadium search is down to two potential sites.
A big housing development on Chautauqua Lake is getting some pushback.
A brownfield loan could jumpstart a stalled Jamestown affordable housing project.
How the local unemployment rate dropped, even though fewer people have jobs.
A Lackawanna warehouse project has been scrapped.
A Buffalo-based startup just raised $75 million from investors.
The owner of a former Model T showroom in Buffalo is expanding his delayed renovation project.
Neighbors aren’t happy with a senior citizen housing project in Angola.
ICYMI
Five reads from Buffalo Next:
1. Some neighbors of the new Buffalo Bills stadium hoped to make big money by selling their property. They’re mostly still waiting.
2. Five challenges facing legal cannabis dispensaries.
3. A look at developer Douglas Jemal’s downtown Buffalo empire.
4. Canadian trade is a big deal for the Buffalo Niagara region – and there are efforts afoot to make it even bigger.
5. Bitwise crashed and burned, but its local executive helped build a similar – but smaller – initiative to train tech workers anyway.
The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the region’s economic revitalization. Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com or reach Buffalo Next Editor David Robinson at 716-849-4435.
Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com.
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