Via Buffalo News
By Andrew Z. Galarneau
Veteran Buffalo restaurateurs are teaming with Ellicott Development to pursue a restaurant and residential building at 905 Elmwood Ave., presently a gas station.
Henry Gorino, who sold Oliver’s last year, is working on the project with restaurant partner Chuck Mauro and Ellicott Development’s Bill Paladino, according to Mauro.
They’ve made an offer, and are pursuing a mixed-use building that would have a middle-market restaurant on the first floor and apartments on upper floors, Mauro said. The property, at Elmwood and West Delevan, currently holds the Elmwoo-Delevan Food Mart, a convenience store and gas station.
“We’re going through due diligence right now, so it’s not definite by any stretch of the imagination,” Mauro said. The site has to be assessed for environmental issues because of the gas tanks in the ground, among other potential complications, he said.
It will probably take five or six months of research and evaluation to see if the plan will move forward, he said.
The restaurant would “not be a high-end place, moderately priced,” Mauro said. The menu isn’t being developed yet. “Probably nothing over $30,” Mauro said. “Lunch, dinner, early evening, Sunday brunch.”
“We’re excited, and hope it comes together,” he said. If everything works out, “we are probably looking at summer 2015,” he said.
“We want to be part of the community, and want to be good neighbors, a positive thing in the Elmwood Village,” Mauro said. “We want to do things the right way. When you’re heading south and reach Delevan, there seems to be a divide. We think it’s going to help connect the village, and that’s exciting.”
Photo: Google Street View
Email: agalarneau@buffnews.com
