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Council asked to reaffirm ability to lease Marine Drive property for redevelopment; project to preserve affordable units

5505372 · July 21, 2025

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Summary

City staff asked the council to amend a loan-and-subsidy agreement to permit the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority (BMHA) to long-term lease the Marine Drive site to a development partner as part of a redevelopment that will include state-affordable units between 30% and 90% AMI; closing with New York State is expected in August per staff.

Nadine Moran of the Office of Strategic Planning asked the council to approve an amendment to the loan-and-subsidy agreement for Marine Drive so the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority (BMHA) may long-term lease the property to the project developer as part of a planned redevelopment.

Moran described the site as one of several developments originally built with New York State capital funds in the 1950s and 1960s and said the requested amendment does not change the site’s existing fiscal constraints. She told the council the housing will remain subject to New York State affordable-housing requirements and said the planned project will include a mix of affordability across the 30%–90% area median income (AMI) bands to “protect the long term residents.” Moran said the BMHA has entered a development partnership with Bridal Development (a BMHA-affiliated nonprofit development entity) and a third-party developer that the agency selected through an RFP; Habitat Companies and Duvernay Brooks were named as part of the development team in the presentation.

Moran said the city’s assent to allow a long-term lease was requested by the project’s financing partners and by New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), and that the parties aim to close with New York State in August. Council members asked for clarifications about lease terms; one council member said she was concerned about sections of a proposed 50-year lease that allow termination on relatively short notice and requested that staff review the termination-notice language. Moran said the lease contains multiple notice provisions and that, in one scenario where Broadway Market Management Corporation is failing to perform, the city would have a 60-day remedy period to retake the property. Moran said the amendment is intended to protect the city long term while enabling the financing structure required to secure state tax credits.

Why it matters: the amendment would permit BMHA to use long-term lease and development-entity structures that allow projects to access state tax credits and private financing but preserve statutory affordable-housing commitments on the site.

What’s next: staff asked the council to consider the amendment so the project can proceed toward a scheduled closing with the state; council members asked staff to review lease termination-notice language and to respond to district concerns about long-term implications for residents.