The Erie County Industrial Development Agency this morning approved $320,000 in tax breaks

for a pair of projects that will turn vacant land or dilapidated buildings in Buffalo into

apartments near the Elmwood strip.

A project to transform the former Niagara Lutheran Home at 1040 Delaware Ave. into 49

one-bedroom or two-bedroom apartments was granted $220,000 in sales and mortgage tax breaks

through the IDA. The project also will include about 2,000 square feet of commercial space.

The $4 million project by developers Paul Kolkmeyer and Anthony Colucci is expected to

receive property tax breaks through a separate program administered by the City of Buffalo.

The site has been vacant for nine years.

The IDA also approved $100,000 in sales and mortgage tax breaks for a $2.7 million project

to build 16 apartments on West Utica Street, near Elmwood Avenue.

The project, planned by FJF Development, will be built on the 300 block of West Utica on a

site that contained an empty lot, an old house and a rooming house that has been closed for

several years.

FJF, which includes architect Karl Frizlen, attorney Michael Ferdman and builder Paul

Johnson, plans to construct apartments averaging about 1,000 square feet in size, as well as

commercial or retail space on the site.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said the FJF project will strengthen the Elmwood neighborhood by

improving its housing stock.

But other IDA board members, including Erie County Legislature Chairwoman Lynn Marinelli,

D-Town of Tonawanda, and Amherst Supervisor Satish Mohan, while voting for the tax breaks

because they qualify for incentives under the agency's policies, questioned whether IDAs

should be aiding housing projects.