Originally home to the windshield wiper manufacturer founded by John R. Oishei, the complex was built in five stages between 1880 and 1954. It occupies almost an entire city block between Washington and Ellicott streets, north of Goodell Street, on the edge of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The Krog Corporation, in association with Buffalo-based Hart Hotels Inc., commit $80 million to the redevelopment of the 617000-sf former factory into 185 studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom loft-style, market-rate apartments, ranging in size from 500 to 1,200 square feet, a 120-room extended-stay hotel, 35,000 square feet of Class A office space, 86,000 square feet of additional commercial space and 12,000 square feet of retail or food and beverage space including a 6-story high auto-court plaza (over basement parking) to increase daylight to the adjacent inner spaces.
Crews demolished approximately 120,000 square feet of the building along Ellicott Street as part of the redevelopment, reducing the total building size to just under 500,000 square feet. The top three floors will be reconstructed to link the remaining portions of the building north and south of the building demolition, creating a dramatic entry for car traffic into an interior courtyard. The building will also include 230 interior parking spaces.
Tredo Engineers provided structural engineering services in design of plaza deck, ramps, structural infills, floor openings, new slabs and associated structures for elevator and stair shafts, etc.
