Diane Turner was the first tenant of St. John Town Homes,
a $6 million community development project that includes 28 new townhouses in a 36-block area of the Fruit Belt on Buffalo's East Side.
Turner, a member of St. John Baptist Church for 50 years, moved into her new home on Maple Street on July 1. She's "very pleased " with the house and the way the
project aims to revitalize the community.
"They're well-built, very secure, and I love them," Turner said Tuesday at the official grand opening of the townhouses.
The event, which included an open house at 163 and 165 Maple, marked the completion of the project, which broke ground last November.
Clustered at 13 sites on streets such as Mulberry, Locust and Lemon, the three- and four-bedroom units are the latest development in a $54 million plan St. John
Baptist Church has for the area. The church is developing an area that borders the expanded Medical
Corridor that includes Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo General Hospital and Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute.
The homes will be rental units for low- and moderate-income families.
"They are just lovely, and they're great for the community" said Barbara Collins, a church member who
recently relocated back to Buffalo from Alabama. "This is going to be the area to live in."
The St. John Fruit Belt Community Development Corp., the church's development arm, spearheaded the project, which was primarily funded with $5 million in tax credits.
In 2005, the Rev. Michael Chapman, church pastor, had a revitalization vision that became a reality Tuesday.
"This is just the first part," Chapman said during the event. "There are other great things coming."
One of those things is $1.6 million in federal money provided by Rep. Louise Slaughter for Fruit Belt infrastructure improvements, such as street lights and curbs.
"There is so much untapped potential in this community," Slaughter said. "And we're going to have much more investment here."
The Local Initiatives Support Corp. provided the $5 million in tax credits, said Michael K. Clarke, LISC's Buffalo program director.
LISC is a national nonprofit that works with nonprofit developers to support construction projects, provide
money to pay predevelopment costs for projects and operating expenses for the nonprofits, and also assist the organizations in applying for federal or state tax credits.
"I think five or six more of these projects would be great," Clarke said. "The homes have good design, a good
contractor and a good organization behind it in St. John's. With the . . . services and programs the church
has, you can go from childhood to leaving. You don't move out, you move on."
The church recently opened a hospice, and it already had a 150- unit apartment complex, a senior citizen
housing complex, and the Family Life Center, which houses a day care center and Christian Academy.
