Continued Development for Buffalo’s East Side

Following the success of its initial Pilgrim Village project, the development team behind the transformative East Side housing-anchored complex is getting ready for its next phase. But that next phase won’t happen until 2026 or 2027.

“We are very early in our conceptual phase,” said Connor Kenney, SAA?EVI regional director and partner.

SAA/EVI took one step forward with the next Pilgrim Village phase by acquiring a parcel at 951 Ellicott St., paying $2.5 million, according to documents filed Aug. 19 in the Erie County Clerk's office. The deal was between SAA/EVI’s Pilgrim Village II Housing Development Fund Co., Inc. affiliate and McGuire PV Holding L.P.

Many years in the planning, SAA/EVI is in the early stages of turning the circa late 1960s and early 1970s era Pilgrim Village housing complex into a more modern residential community. Pilgrim Village is located near Buffalo General Hospital and the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and sits along such streets as Ellicott Street and Michigan Avenue.

In its first phase, SAA/EVI developed 237 apartments as part of a $93 million development. All 237 apartments have been leased to senior citizens and low-to-moderate-income tenants. A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 11. Kenney said the 951 Ellicott Street property could be home to as many as 200 apartments.

“We’ve already seen that the market can absorb these units,” Kenney said.

SAA/EVI has several projects either completed or planned in Buffalo, including a possible expansion of the The Forge complex along Broadway and converting the former Voelker’s Bowling Alley along Elmwood Avenue into an apartment-anchored development.