Four years of review, legal battles, and court rulings came to an end in the fall of 2025 when the Buffalo Planning Board voted unanimously to approve the $134 million expansion of McCarley Gardens in the city's Fruit Belt neighborhood. The project — a six-story, 265,680-square-foot mixed-use building at the corner of Virginia and Ellicott Streets — now has all necessary approvals in place, and developer BFC Partners and nonprofit Buffalo's Black Billion / St. John Fruit Belt CDC have signaled construction is imminent.

The approval, confirmed by The Buffalo Criterion and multiple local outlets in early October 2025, came after a May 2025 court ruling that upheld the project's environmental review over a legal challenge filed by the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC).

What Is Being Built

The McCarley Gardens expansion building will include 220 units of affordable workforce housing — 132 one-bedroom and 88 two-bedroom apartments — available to households earning 40, 60, or 80 percent of Area Median Income. The six-story structure covers 265,680 square feet on a 1.6-acre section of the existing McCarley Gardens campus and will include 21,000 square feet of retail space designed to bring essential services — a potential grocery store, pharmacy, or childcare facility — to a neighborhood that currently lacks them. The project includes 161 on-site parking spaces, exceeding city requirements.

According to Buffalo Rising, the project involved a redesign of N. Oak Street and a new Burnie Lane extension with 16 on-street parking spaces to address concerns raised during environmental review about impacts on existing residents.

Part of a $1 Billion East Side Initiative

The McCarley expansion is the most visible component of a larger initiative. According to a January 2026 press release from BFC Partners and Buffalo's Black Billion, Stage One of the combined East Side effort totals approximately $1 billion in investment and encompasses a $57 million McCarley Gardens renovation of existing buildings, the $134 million McCarley Gardens new build described here, a $30 million St. John Towers renovation, a $1.8 million Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church restoration, and ancillary facility renovations. Stage Two — a future $1 billion investment in the Jefferson Avenue Corridor from Cherry Street to East Ferry Street — is in the planning phase.

Michael Chapman, President and CEO of Buffalo's Black Billion and Saint John Fruit Belt CDC, said in the January 2026 announcement: "Together, Town Gardens and Saint John Fruit Belt developments represent nearly $800 million in investment on Buffalo's East Side, marking a transformative commitment to community-centered growth, job creation, and long-term economic opportunity."

A Long Road to Approval

The McCarley expansion began its review process in 2023, when BFC Partners and St. John Baptist Church first brought plans to the Buffalo Planning Board. A lawsuit filed by the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus — which objected to the realignment of N. Oak Street and argued the project's environmental review was insufficient — delayed the timeline by more than two years. A New York State Supreme Court ruling in May 2025 upheld the City's environmental review and cleared the path for final Planning Board approval.

The Financing and Development Structure

BFC Partners closed on $126 million in financing for the adjacent Towne Gardens rehabilitation in January 2026, sourcing funding from New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), Wells Fargo, and Freddie Mac, with approximately $38.7 million in subsidy from HCR and a Low Income Housing Tax Credit allocation generating $15 million in equity. The $134 million McCarley expansion is expected to use a comparable financing structure, consistent with BFC Partners' 1,600-unit Buffalo housing pipeline detailed in its October 2025 announcement to the Buffalo Business First.

East Side Building Fund Adds Momentum

In May 2025, Governor Hochul launched the East Side Building Fund, a $10 million program administered by Empire State Development that offers grants up to $400,000 for small-scale renovations and up to $2 million for major restorations or new construction along East Buffalo's priority commercial corridors — Jefferson Avenue, Fillmore Avenue, Michigan Avenue, Genesee Street, and Bailey Avenue. The fund targets corridors that overlap with the McCarley and Towne Gardens service area.

What This Means for Builders and Contractors

The combined pipeline of projects in and around the Fruit Belt represents a multi-year construction opportunity for the Western New York trades. The McCarley expansion alone — 265,680 square feet of new residential and commercial construction on an urban infill site adjacent to a nationally recognized medical campus — will require phased site work, foundation and structural systems, mechanical/electrical/plumbing, and interior fit-out across an extended timeline. Combined with the ongoing Towne Gardens rehabilitation and the future Towne Gardens Plaza redevelopment, the Fruit Belt neighborhood is positioned to be one of Buffalo's most active construction zones well into the latter part of the decade.

Sources

• The Buffalo Criterion — Final city approval for $134 million McCarley Gardens expansion (October 2, 2025)
• PR Newswire — BFC Partners closes $126M Towne Gardens financing (January 7, 2026)
• Buffalo Rising — Planning Board to review two projects, 530 units (July 2025)
• Buffalo Business First — BFC Partners plans to build, renovate 1,500 Buffalo apartments (October 7, 2025)
• Construction Owners Association — Governor Hochul launches $10M East Side Building Fund (May 2025)