ECIDA weighs up purchase of Red Cross building

  • 2016-09-02
The Erie County Industrial Development Agency is thinking of buying the American Red Cross building, located on Delaware Avenue in Buffalo.

If it goes through with the purchase, it will be with a view to making the building shared office space for nonprofits in the area. The Red Cross would remain on site as the building's main tenant, according to Rosie Taravella, the CEO of the Red Cross’ Western and Central New York Region.

The Red Cross and the ECIDA have agreed to find out how interested other local nonprofits would be in moving to the site, should the agency buy it. The ECIDA's 2017 budget includes $4.2m for the purpose.

Steven Weathers, CEO and president of the ECIDA, said the idea of buying the property, which is a mansion, is to create a campus where nonprofits could share resources and have access to high-quality, affordable facilities. He notes that many other nonprofits across the country have teamed up successfully in exactly this type of project, where they can share resources. Locating similar agencies together has resulted in more efficient operations for everyone concerned.

CBRE, the real estate brokerage house, has been hired to investigate the level of interest in the project, and issues relating to the acquisition. It's expected the analysis will be finished by the end of 2016.

Agencies like these can benefit from using Presentation Folders to organize and preserve materials relevant to such projects.


Get a Free Quote for Presentation Folders