By Serge Del Grosso, Jr.
The saga of Buffalo’s Marine Drive Apartments began more than seventy years ago but has managed to remain a true public resource for New York’s second largest city, known colloquially as the “City of Good Neighbours.” A 616-unit Lake Erie-front Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority (BMHA) development, over its seven decades on the Buffalo waterfront, Marine Drive has lived cycles of displacement, distress, looming gentrification, and now ultimately demolition. In 2025, the complex is the last high-rise public housing development in Buffalo that has yet to face Section 8 RAD Conversion or the wrecking ball.[i] After surviving several rounds of city renovation pushes, the seven high-rise towers still serve the public, currently housing many of Buffalo’s most vulnerable tenants.
Marine Drive initially displaced (eventually to North Buffalo & the City’s West Side) a largely Italian-American community known as “Dante Place”, seen at the time as a “slum” by city leaders and expropriated for redevelopment between 1948 and 1952.[ii] Despite some hiccups with crime and decay through the Johnson and Carter administrations, the Marine Drive complex was stabilized as senior and disability housing by the mid-1980s[iii] and has provided deeply affordable housing to Buffalonians for more than seventy years. Constructed of concrete and steel, the core and shell of the Marine Drive buildings are built to last, but years of insufficient maintenance have left the buildings worse for wear. Hence, in the beginning of 2023, BMHA finalized redevelopment plans[iv] that call for total demolition of the seven-building complex. In its place will be 686 units of affordable rental housing, funded to the tune of an estimated $400 million by a mix of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and other government subsidies, to be completed in three phases between 2025 and 2028.[v] The BMHA and City of Buffalo selected Chicago-based Habitat Company along with Manhattan based design firm Duverney + Brooks to lead the master redevelopment.[vi]
What has been absent from the existing plans is the option for preservation. Current redevelopment plans call for a mixed-use, mixed-density development that will net 686 new units of project-based Section 8 housing. From what I could find reading through the local press coverage and minutes of planning meetings, other options really weren’t considered. While this additional seventy affordable units is a laudable goal, such nets can be achieved on existing public lands in Buffalo without the need for a costly tear-down. Despite its age, I argue that Marine Drive is still a candidate for restoration. There already exists strong local precedent from successful Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) conversions in both Buffalo (Commodore Perry Apartments) as well as New York City (Ocean Bay, Queens and Manhattan’s Harlem River Houses). The RAD program has rehabilitated more than 120,000 units of legacy public housing nationwide[vii]—and while the RAD program is far from perfect, it could come to the rescue of a worthy piece of Buffalo history.
Marine Drive surreptitiously avoided the fate that befell other high-rise public housing projects in the United States (including Buffalo’s Glenny Drive Apartments, demolished 2009). This has been largely due to its hard-edged waterfront location and the unique demographics it came to house. Unlike more well-known Buffalo developments such as the Commodore Perry or Kenfield Homes, Marine Drive has catered predominantly to senior and disabled residents since before the 1996 Clinton-era welfare reforms. Marine Drive’s survival is not only a testament to its lakefront location but also has avoided pitfalls due to local political will—or lack thereof—to completely overhaul the complex. Public outcry over the demolition of historic housing elsewhere in Buffalo,[viii] coupled with escalating building costs for new construction urban renewal projects such as nearby “Larkinville” in the city’s former Hydraulic Milling district, had potentially helped to keep redevelopment efforts at bay until 2023.
(Serge Del Grosso, Jr.)
Additionally, the surge of increased land values can be directly correlated to the redevelopment of Canalside and the Buffalo Outer Harbor, funded by the “Buffalo Billion” spending initiative spearheaded by a certain disgraced former Governor to “boost” the WNY Region in 2012. The Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority should recognize that Marine Drive, while deteriorated, represents a chance to anchor affordable housing in a downtown area increasingly succumbing to gentrification. Ironically, the high public visibility of the site likely made it easier for decision-makers to quietly push for its closure without facing backlash, as it has been longtime seen as an “eyesore”, especially in relation to the new Canalside district and the moneyed downtown interests behind the Buffalo Waterfront’s “Renaissance”.
Balancing economic development with the social responsibility to protect vulnerable residents is a challenge in any urban environment. If Buffalo’s waterfront can accommodate high-end development such as Silo City and Larkinville, shouldn’t there not also be a public responsibility to protect vulnerable existing communities? Preserving Marine Drive Apartments is more than an architectural or fiscal argument—it is a moral imperative tied to Buffalo’s recent struggles with racial and economic justice as well as the city’s working class identity. The displacement of Dante Place remains far back in the collective memory, and the new redevelopment plans may soon also be emblematic of the cycles of neglect and erasure that have marked the city’s approach to affordable housing. To allow the Marine Drive Apartments to meet the wrecking ball without exploring feasible rehabilitation options is to perpetuate a longstanding cycle of political displacement of Buffalo’s working class that dates to the opening of the Erie Canal itself.[ix]
Although critics of preservation such as Gene Bunnell, an Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of Albany, noted that the Marine Drive’s notably low 7.5 foot ceiling height are a driving factor for demolition,[x] it should be noted that these heights are still common in both single and multifamily properties throughout Western New York.[xi] Based on NYCHA’s Ocean Bay redevelopment in Queens, which cost $580 million to rehabilitate over 1,300 units,[xii] the 616 unit Marine Drive rehabilitation could potentially cost match the $400 Million redevelopment figure, or come in substantially cheaper, due to lower labour and material costs in the Buffalo region vs. NYC. Sadly, these alternatives were not seriously considered in the planning process.
Demolition and new construction often come with exorbitant costs—not only in terms of hard development costs, but also in environmental impact. Preserving the Marine Drive Apartments could serve as a case study in adaptive reuse, emphasizing retrofitting over razing. Its steel-and-concrete construction lends itself to extensive rehabilitation, similar to what was achieved in New York City’s Ocean Bay Apartments and its Manhattan mid-rise complex, Harlem River Houses. These RAD conversions retained affordability (although some community activists have voiced concerns around new Section 8 affordability thresholds) while upgrading infrastructure, providing a roadmap for what could be done at Marine Drive.
The complex is one of the last vestiges of deeply affordable housing in downtown Buffalo, an area seeing increases in luxury developments led by out-of-town capital such as Douglas Development.[xiii] Losing these units to new “affordable” housing under LIHTC guidelines risks pricing out the very residents the BMHA is meant to serve, as has been experienced in cities that demolished public housing through previous HUD LIHTC affordability thresholds often fail to align with the incomes of cities most vulnerable populations,[xiv] due to certain fiscal wizardry that ties rents to an area’s median (rather than lowest) income, often shutting out those who rely on the type of deeply subsidized rents offered at Marine Drive.[xv]
According to the Partnership for the Public Good (PPG), the City of Buffalo possesses more than 8,000 vacant tracts within city limits, concentrated mostly in the East Side neighborhoods that are home to Buffalo’s most housing-distressed districts.[xvi] Creating new housing whilepreserving Marine Drive would send a strong message about Buffalo’s commitment to housing equity, providing continuity for long-time residents who have built their lives around the Marine Drive towers. Stability, particularly for senior and disabled populations, is invaluable and cannot be replicated in the uncertainty of phased redevelopment that would entail city-wide relocation of all residents during construction.
Marine Drive is more than a collection of buildings; it is a living piece of Buffalo’s social and architectural history. As the city re-imagines its waterfront identity, striving to transform to meet the needs of the professional-managerial class, preserving such legacy structures is an opportunity to honor the waterfront’s working-class roots while integrating them into Buffalo’s future. It should be noted that the redevelopment plans are more or less fate accompli, but changing realities at both the federal and local level may significantly impact Buffalo’s housing strategy moving forward.Projects like NYC’s Harlem River Houses RAD Conversions have shown how historical housing can coexist with modern development, creating vibrant, inclusive communities.The Buffalo Waterfront is experiencing a moment of transformation, and preserving Marine Drive will ensure a continuity of community without reproducing the negative experiences of public housing relocation for an already highly vulnerable mostly senior resident population. The BMHA’s redevelopment plans offer a polished vision of progress but come at the cost of erasing one of Buffalo’s last remaining high-rise public housing complexes. Preservation isn’t just feasible—it’s the better choice. Buffalo has an opportunity to show how aging public housing can be revitalized without uprooting the populations who depend on it. After all, isn’t Buffalo the City of Good Neighbours?
Endnotes
[i] Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority. “2022 BMHA NY002 Annual PHA Plan.” Accessed December 23, 2024. https://www.bmhahousing.com/DocumentCenter/View/844/2022-BMHA-NY002-Annual-PHA-Plan.
[ii] “Dante Place.” Buffalo Streets. Accessed December 23, 2024. https://buffalostreets.com/tag/dante-place/.
[iii] Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority. “History.” Accessed December 23, 2024. https://www.bmhahousing.com/151/History.
[iv] New York Green Bank. “Marine Drive Apartments to Meet Sustainability Goals.” Accessed December 23, 2024. https://greenbank.ny.gov/-/media/Project/Greenbank/Files/Portfolio/GB-tp-marine-cs-1-v1_acc.pdf.
[v] Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority. “2022 BMHA NY002 Annual PHA Plan.” Accessed December 23, 2024. https://www.bmhahousing.com/DocumentCenter/View/844/2022-BMHA-NY002-Annual-PHA-Plan.
[vi] “Big Reveal: Marine Drive Redevelopment Plans.” Buffalo Rising, July 2023. https://www.buffalorising.com/2023/07/big-reveal-marine-drive-redevelopment-plans/.
[vii] U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “Rental Assistance Demonstration: Key Takeaways.” Accessed December 23, 2024. https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/repositioning/rad_key_takeaways.
[viii] Preservation Buffalo Niagara. “Everyone’s Heritage.” Accessed December 23, 2024. https://preservationbuffaloniagara.org/everyones-heritage/.
[ix] Bach, Matthew J. “The rust belt’s urban heritage commons” SUNY, 2016. https://www.proquest.com/openview/a6a03f02ca159acd81442dbad37eb7bf/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
[x] Gene Bunnell. Buffalos Waterfront Reniasance. Albany: SUNY Press, 2024.
[xi] Code of the City of Buffalo 2003-present: https://www.buffalony.gov/448/Building-Code
[xii] “Marine Drive Developments.” NYCHA Real Talk. Accessed December 23, 2024. https://nycharealtalk.org/lots/5712/.
[xiii] Douglas Development. “Douglas Jemal Biography.” Accessed December 23, 2024. https://douglasdevelopment.com/bio/douglas-jemal/.
[xiv] McCulloch, John. “LIHTC for Regular People.” Shelterforce, November 30, 2023. https://shelterforce.org/2023/11/30/lihtc-for-regular-people/#how-are-rents-set.
[xv] WBEN News. “BMHA Seeking State Approval for 10% Rent Increase at Marine Drive Apartments.” Accessed December 23, 2024. https://www.audacy.com/wben/news/local/bmha-seeking-state-approval-for-10-rent-increase-at-marine-driveapartments.
[xvi] Partnership for the Public Good. “Using Publicly Owned Land to Advance Sustainability and Equity in Buffalo.” Accessed December 23, 2024. https://ppgbuffalo.org/files/documents/housing_neighborhoods/general/using_publiclyowned_land_to_advance_sustainability_and_equity_in_buffalo.pdf
Serge Del Grosso, Jr is an Italian-American urbanist from Westchester County, NY. A 2024 Hunter MUP Graduate, Serge is particularly passionate about affordable housing and neighbourhood preservation in rust-belt cities. In his spare time, he enjoys railfanning and restoring classic Volvo cars.
