There’s a new vibe in Larkinville, and it’s not just offices, music or food trucks. It’s home.
The growing district east of downtown Buffalo, New York is already known for its sprawling former industrial warehouses converted to trendy office space for several businesses.
Now Larkinville’s rise and renewal bring something else: residents.
Over the next year, the onetime industrial and shipping district will become home to several hundred new loft apartments.
Three enormous block warehouses at almost the same intersection are simultaneously being transformed by three different developers into the latest residential space in downtown Buffalo. Located at 500 and 550 Seneca St. and at 545 Swan St., the buildings will include at least 281 apartments, plus office space, restaurants, a distillery and amenities for tenants.
“The more the merrier down here,” said developer Samuel Savarino, whose Savarino Companies is leading the redevelopment of 500 Seneca. “That’s the kind of changes that happen when you have a lot people concentrated in one area.”
The investments in the three buildings, totaling $70 million in all, marks the latest example of big changes on the fringes of downtown Buffalo.
They’re creating a new buzz in one of the oldest areas of the city, where many of its cavernous warehouses, production facilities and office buildings had long been neglected, underused or vacant.