950 Broadway at Broadway and Fillmore was purchased by Cedarland Development in 2015. Now it appears that the development group will start to move forward with its plans to to redevelop the building.
The development team that built the $34 million The Grid apartment complex near the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus wants to revive the long-vacant former Eckhardt’s department store building in the Broadway-Fillmore district.
Developer Kevin Dagher, Cedarland Development Group vice president, said his company’s $9 million renovation of the Eckhardt’s building at 950 Broadway could begin in early 2022. Plans call for apartments and neighborhood services.
“We know this is an important building to the Broadway-Fillmore area,” Dagher said.
Fillmore District Councilman Mitch Nowakowski said renovations to the former department store could be a “major psychological lift” for the neighborhood. The building has been vacant for more than a decade and could open by early 2023.
“The building has a lot of history, but it needs to be re-activated to enhance that intersection (Broadway and Fillmore Avenue),” Nowakowski said. “The Daghers taking on this project could be a signal to other investors to look at the district.”
Designed by the Buffalo architecture firm of Bley & Lyman, the building opened in 1940 with a curved façade that’s considered an excellent example of the Art Moderne design.
You can read more about the Eckhardt Building by following this link.
https://broadwayfillmorealive.org/eckhardt/
