By Jim Fink
A prime downtown property nestled between First Niagara Center and Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino has been added to Ellicott Development Co.’s growing real estate portfolio.
According to documents filed in the Erie County Clerk’s office, the 4100 Group LLC, an Ellicott Development affiliate, has acquired the Nicholson & Hall property at the corner of Michigan Avenue and South Park Avenue. The 4100 Group paid $950,000 for the 25,426-square-foot building.
William Paladino, Ellicott CEO, said his company is considering a number of plans for the nearly one-acre site.
“In the short term, we might put a warehouse tenant in there,” Paladino said.
Any future development plan may demand on other proposed and rumored projects in the area. Some have suggested a hotel may be developed along South Park Avenue. Others said major restaurant chains are scouting the area.
Just a few blocks away sits the Buffalo Sabres’ HarborCenter project and the still-developing Canalside area.
And, Ellicott Development is in the process of transforming a former food storage warehouse on Scott Street into a mixed-use development anchored by market rate apartments and restaurants.
In late August, representatives from the Seneca Nation of Indians and Seneca Gaming Corp. said they may develop other projects in the area besides the 65,000-square-foot Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino.
“I want to see how the whole area develops before we commit to any one project,” Paladino said.
