“The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus continues to grow and evolve, adding new jobs to the city and creating a dynamic, cutting-edge life sciences environment in the heart of the city,” said Mayor Brown. “It has already generated approximately $1 billion in public and private sector investments, bringing thousands of new jobs into the city and creating an exciting environment of medical research and discovery and the commercialization of new medical products. Our investment in the Ellicott Park Project will help further strengthen the infrastructure that is essential to the BNMC’s continuing and future success, which is adding strength and vitality to the surrounding residential neighborhoods.”
“I am pleased that we are taking this big step to improve and invest in the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus,” said Congresswoman Louise Slaughter. “Since first securing over $5 million in federal funding for this project several years ago, I have looked forward to the project’s commencement. Paired with another $13.9 million in federal funding I have secured for research and development at the medical campus and to build up the Fruit Belt neighborhood, this project will not only benefit the patients, doctors, and researchers at the Medical Campus, but the entire local community as well.”
“With these critical investments we are building up our transportation infrastructure to meet the needs of the growing human infrastructure doing remarkable work along the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus each and every day,” said Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27). “It is here, right it our backyard, that research is leading to discovery, treatments are leading to cures and ideas are leading to innovation. This project will create construction jobs in the short term, help to support the over 8,500 existing jobs and create new opportunities for job growth in health care, research, education and supporting industries that all converge within this corridor.”
The city funds will go toward pavement rehabilitation, new sidewalks and streetscape improvements as part of the Ellicott Park project along Ellicott Street within the BNMC, which include:
- Design of Ellicott Park will transform Ellicott Street by creating a unique 36-foot wide public space. This linear park will be the new spine for the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, making use of a 20-foot setback established along the east side of Ellicott Street.
- Ellicott Park will incorporate green landscapes, a unique paving pattern, special low-level lighting, public art, bicycle racks, and custom street furniture. The space will be designed to feel secure and promote physical activity throughout all seasons, while keeping an eye toward ease of maintenance.
- Ellicott Street will be changed to two-way traffic with supporting signage and traffic signals.
- Ellicott Street will be repaved by mill and overlay with placement of a new curb.
- New sidewalks with unique streetscape elements along Ellicott Street will create a pedestrian-friendly and secure campus setting for those who come for health care, education, work on and visit the BNMC.
The city’s federal legislative delegation, which consists of Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and Representatives Slaughter and Higgins, were able to secure federal funding: $2.4 million through Federal Transit Authority and $4 million through Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Congresswoman Slaughter inserted $1.9M in the federal fiscal year 2005 spending bill and $3.2M included in the SAFTEA-LU bill. The project total is approximately $6.8 million (including state and city matches).
“Improving the public space on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus is critical to establishing an environment that facilitates excellence and innovation,” said Matthew K. Enstice, Executive Director of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. “Ellicott Park will be a space unique to the City of Buffalo, creating a sense of place that will complement the research, clinical care, education, and entrepreneurship happening inside the institutions. Thanks to the sustained support of our elected officials at the federal, state, and local levels, the BNMC continues to move toward its collective vision of building a world-class medical campus in downtown Buffalo.”
The city’s $440,000 investment in the Ellicott Park Project follows the announcement Mayor Brown made last September that the city would invest $1.1 million in Fruit Belt neighborhood infrastructure improvements and anti-crime upgrades. The funding for that effort came from the sale of Goodrich Street from the City of Buffalo to Kaleida Health, which helped facilitate the building of the future Kaleida Health and University at Buffalo 10-story global vascular institute and research building on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
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