Building on our past to create our future

ACADEMY PLACE   ~ A Community Development Project

Total Project Cost: $ 10+ million ~ (100% of funding in place)

Construction begun in October 2008

This strategic initiative transformed a 77,000 square feet school building into affordable senior housing, a child and adult daycare center, and business, office, education, & community space.  By adaptively converting this former school building, located along Cattaraugus Creek, the Academy Place project will strategically accomplish the following goals:

	Develop 32-units of affordable senior housing
	Develop space for small businesses, and health and human services providers
	Provide space for education and community programs
	Establish a congregate senior dining site
	Create new jobs and retain existing jobs

Academy Place is the result of an eight-year effort by key community leaders.  The Academy Place initiative is based on identified needs, fiscal viability, sustainability, and broad-based, enthusiastic support from the community.  Under the stewardship of the Healthy Community Alliance, Academy Place holds to its same mission, “to improve quality of life in rural communities.”  Academy Place also supports various federal, state, and regional goals for job creation, economic development, elimination of blight, availability of affordable housing, and improved community services.                                                                                                                                     

Since the close of the school in June of 2002, the Healthy Community Alliance has spearheaded the effort to transform this once bustling home of education, teeming with students, to a multi-faceted community resource designed to meet the growing needs of a diverse population.  Academy Place is close to completion:

Senior Housing
The second and third floors of the former school building offer thirty-two (32) apartments (28 one bedroom and four two bedroom) for well and frail elderly. A large community room with kitchen area, laundry and storage facilities on each floor and adequate parking for residents and guests add to the attractiveness of these spacious, well-equipped, and affordable apartments.
The units are available for well and frail elderly, 62 years of age and older, with incomes below 50% of the area median. Residents will be required to document that they meet these eligibility requirements prior to occupancy and will be required to certify their incomes annually.

Business Space

Over 10,000 square feet is available for development into small business or offices for health and human services providers.
 
Education & Community

Space will be available for education and community programs. A “Network Neighborhood” computer room is being planned that will provide space and computers for seniors and others to learn about computers and access the internet.

 Senior Dining
A congregate senior dining site will be available through Cattaraugus County Department of Aging.

 Employment
Academy Place is expected to create and maintain jobs in an economically depressed rural community.


ACADEMY PLACE PROJECT FUNDING

NYS Office of Children & Family Services(OCFS) ~ $202,400
Village of Gowanda VCR grant - $35,000
Sen. Catherine Young Member Initiative grant - $15,000
Univera’s “Caring for Comunities” -  $21,000
NYS Empire Zone Capital Credit Community Development Project - $250,000 in tax credits
US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development 202 Funds ~ $1.938 million
HSBC ~ $5,000
Erie County HOME Funds - $45,000
Erie County Community Development Block Grant ~ $150,000
John R.Oishei Foundation - $70,000
Individual Contributions - $260,000
East Hill Foundation - $25,000 
NYS Division of Housing & Community Renewal (DHCR) HOME Funds - $850,000
RESTORE NY ~ $1.5 million
Affordable Housing program through HSBC ~ $272,000
Western New York Foundation ~ $25,000
 

The Need for Action
                         

In cities and villages around the country and right here in Western New York, school buildings that were once filled with children and served as a focal point for community life, now stand abandoned, boarded up and vandalized.  These once beautifully cared for and maintained buildings have become dangerous eyesores, and even worse, a magnet for vandals and a more serious criminal element. Although some school buildings have found new life as community centers or apartment complexes, this is the exception rather than the rule. The potential for transformation is often overlooked, especially in small, economically depressed rural communities where revitalization is needed the most. This is not the case with the Academy Place Project. Transformation and revitalization were the key components of this grass roots, community-based initiative, which grew out of a volunteer task force that began planning even before the Center Street Elementary School closed its doors. 

Academy Place represents a rare convergence of community need and purpose. In the short term, making it a reality will breathe new life into one rural community; in the long term, Academy Place can be a blueprint for other similar communities (and there are many) to emerge from decades of decline into a new era of hope and promise.