Courtesy of the Buffalo News, 6/16/2006
A small new brick shopping plaza with mod green walls is about month away from being ready for an M&T bank and three new stores along the revivalistic Jefferson Avenue.A church group is behind the effort to draw entrepreneurs back to the once-thriving economic core of the city's African-American community.
"We put a fresh celery green on everything to make this fun. . . . bring in a little bit of Elmwood, so to speak, to Jefferson," said project architect David Galbo, refering to the prosperous Elmwood Avenue retail district two miles to the west.
The $1 million building and parking lot, which began construction last summer on an empty weedy stretch of asphalt, is nearly complete, save for finishes, such as ceilings, lights and room partitions. It is part of a continuing effort coordinated by the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
The plaza at 1300 Jefferson is across the street from the Tops supermarket and a big new library that opened in April. The store owners who came to look over their unfinished shops one morning this week said they were eager to move into the neighborhood.
"The buzz is definitely there," said Bart Williams, 23, an owner of PrintEfx, a new version of a printing and design company he started in his mother's house when he was 16. He has been running the company ever since - from his college dorm room, apartment and anywhere he can open up his laptop computer.
To open his first store, he gave the business a new name, persuaded a friend to join in as partner, and took a semester off from his international business studies. He intends to re-enroll and finish at the University at Buffalo. One day he wants to franchise. "This is just the beginning," Williams said.
Co-owner Khalil Cottman, 21, said he is also taking a semester off - from Northeastern University in Boston. Eventually he expects to enroll at UB.
Williams has been specializing in Web sites, brochures, and graphic design since he was 16. Last year he started doing the ad layouts for the weekly African-American newspaper the "Challenger News," which moved its Sycamore Street offices close by to 1337 Jefferson in October.
PrintEfx got the space in the new plaza nearby by submitting a plan for the business, which will expand from printing and design to include a digital photo studio and cell phone sales. Rent on the 800-square-foot space - each of the four spaces average about 1,000 square feet - is about $6.25 a square foot, said Williams.
The thought of their new operation made Williams and Cottman repeat a slogan they heard from Buffalo's mayor - "Buffalo is open for business" - and do a high five hand-slap in the air.
"We are living the reality," Cottman said.
Mid-July opening
Gloria Simpson, owner of the Flashy Toppers hat store and clothing boutique, said her customers have been impatient.
"They can't wait until we open up. . . . I keep telling them, "End of June. We're coming,' " she said. However, the construction contractor said the building may not be completed until mid-July.
Last summer she closed her Amherst-plaza hat store, which sold dressy church hats, in anticipation of the new location. "My furniture has green in it," she said admiring the "celery" wall color.
For Frederick and Lydia Gelsey, who minister at the Broadway "One in Christ Temple" and own clothing boutiques, their new Jefferson "Mr. G's Fashions" store is a chance to give the East Side of Buffalo another try. "For me it's another step of faith," Frederick Gelsey said. "We never know if it's going to work."
Since the couple opened their first clothing store in 1990, they have had a series of locations: from near the old Trico Tri-Main building to East Side stores that included one at the intersection of William Street and Jefferson.
While they closed their store at the Walden Galleria in November, their Allen Street "Gelsey's Fashions," with urban style jeans and T-shirts, is still open along with another in North Carolina, where their daughter lives.
Lydia was pleased that they landed the spot closest to M&T bank branch and its customer traffic.
"We're going to try to Pied Pipe them into our store," she said of the folklore character known for getting people to follow him.
Plans call for more
The plaza project was launched by a coalition of development-minded African-American pastors - "The Jeremiah Project" - and funded with federal government and private foundation money. Its execution was coordinated by a nonprofit founded by the Bethel AME Church. And plans call for more. The Bethel Community Development Corporation fielded so many questions from people who wanted space in the new plaza that the executive director is now thinking of putting offices and a conference room into the old North Jefferson branch library near Jefferson on East Utica Street.
"It's in great condition," said Ben Upshaw, executive director of the CDC. He has been looking into buying the library from Erie County. "We're constantly getting inquiries."
While the new tenants were touring the building this week, a man looked over the fence that bordered his side yard and said the new addition to the neighborhood had prompted him to fix his leaning porch and peeling turquoise paint. At a city inspector's recent request, Jerome Bryant was working to add the new pink siding that his wife chose for their house.
"I want to keep up with them," he said, referring to the new plaza. "I don't want to be the eyesore."
CPC Commits $50 Million to Build and Revitalize Housing in Buffalo’s Downtown Core. View the front page of the Summer 2006 Community Preservation Coalition newsletter
