BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — T.C. Crews remembers the days when he bowled at Miller's Bowling Alley on Jefferson Avenue, where the now-closing Family Dollar is located.
It was one of many stores and other establishments in the area.
"It was a little of bit everything on Jefferson. Everything you wanted, back in the day, was on Jefferson Avenue," he told 7 News.
But today, after years of disinvestment, Jefferson Avenue isn't the bustling boulevard it once was.
And while many people and businesses are trying to uplift this community, there are still many vacant lots and boarded-up buildings along the avenue.
"Everything was open. Every laundromat, every store over here was open, just the plaza where Family Dollar is. It used to be….open," Silence Cole told 7 News who recently moved to an apartment near the Tops supermarket.
"There's like nobody out in the community," Darrell Hicks said after getting off the bus on Jefferson Avenue. "We need to come out and enjoy this community."
Mark Talley, whose mother was murdered in the mass shooting on May 14, 2022, says taking a look around the neighborhood, it hasn't changed.
"You know, it's still pretty much the same, they're trying to put some new businesses, some new organizations over here," he said.
So what's getting in the way?
7 News took a look at what's going on with properties along Jefferson Avenue and city records show that these big open spaces are made up of multiple lots and they're owned by a hodgepodge of people, developers and the City of Buffalo.
Brendan Mehaffy, executive director of Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown's Office of Strategic Planning said that's one of the big obstacles to development — finding plots of land that are next to each other that are big enough to build on.
"It might have been three or four houses that were next to each other and they were all demolished. And so instead of having just a 25 ft frontage, now you multiply that by four, so it's 100 ft frontage. So there is a lot more opportunities in those scenarios," said Mehaffy.
But sometimes the lots are really narrow, some just two feet wide, and then owned by different entities. And without an agreement between the parties, nothing can happen.
Recently, the city conducted a study of the 7,000 vacant lots it owns. There are about 16,000 vacant lots across the city, Mehaffy said. And city planners are now identifying the city-owned lots that would be suitable for development.
Following a series of community meetings in the Hamlin Park and Masten neighborhoods, the city is getting ready to develop 20 single-family homes in the area.
The goal, said Lisa Hicks, director of strategic planning for the city, is to attract more people to live in the neighborhood and then make sure there are stores and amenities "to provide to residents in the neighborhood, in terms of pharmacies, making sure there's access to healthy food, making sure there's medical clinics in the neighborhood."
Voices of the community
Folks on Jefferson had lots of ideas of what they'd like to see on those big open lots, like the three right around Tops.
Terell Moore said he'd like to see more public housing.
"I'd like to see other kids playing and being happy," said 8-year-old Amina Cole.
"A big house!' Darrell Hicks suggested, lots of big houses.
Minnie Brown was walking through a grassy vacant lot next to a boarded-up building on Riley, right off of Jefferson, which is a commonly used shortcut to walk to and from Tops.
She said she wants to see that house torn down and "maybe make this a park for the kids or something, you know, somewhere where maybe people my age could sit down and rest."
7 News reached out to the parties who hold the titles to the lots right around Tops and learned that the big open field kitty corner from the supermarket is made up of four separate lots. The two closest to the corner are held by the developer who built the Northwest Bank which stands at the other end of the block. But in between are two lots held by a man who is seeking to build something special for the community.
"The vision is to restore Jefferson to its glory days," he said.
The developer told 7 News that they'd be willing to sell the man their two lots — it's too small for them to do anything with — if he has a viable plan. And they'll give it to him for just $1.
The man and the developer didn't want their names used until the deal comes together. But the man, who goes by Mike, said that access to all four lots opens up a whole lot of possibilities.
"It means the world," he said.
Mike showed a crisp $1 bill and said he's ready. The neighborhood is too. We'll keep you updated on any developments.
