BUFFALO-A partnership of Seavest Healthcare Properties LLC and Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. has broken ground on what will be a key component of the 120-acre Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The $100.7-million, six-story, 301,473 square foot Conventus building at 1001 Main St. here will house a range of clinical, research and academic office users.
Kaleida Health, the largest healthcare provider in western New York, and UB|MD, a physicians' group associated with the University at Buffalo, will anchor the facility. There will be additional space available for hospitals, independent physician groups, biomedical research firms and other healthcare-related users, along with about 30,000 square feet of ground floor retail. The partnership plans to seek LEED Gold certification from the US Green Building Council.
“Conventus is Latin for 'meeting' or 'coming together,' and this building will do just that,” says Jonathan L. Winer, senior managing director and CIO of White Plains-based healthcare real estate developer Seavest. “It will not only bring together a range of healthcare-related users, encouraging the collaborative sharing of resources and ideas, it will also serve as a physical hub for the BNMC, conveniently linking several of the other clinical, academic and research buildings.”
Conventus will be connected via second-floor skybridges to the existing UB Research Institute on Addictions, as well as to a pair of buildings now in development: Kaleida's John R. Oishei Children's Hospital, which will replace its existing Women and Children's Hospital; and the new UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. In addition, a renovation of a nearby metro rail station will help ensure that patients, shoppers and commuters will be able to access the Conventus building without ever being exposed to the elements—no small consideration in a city famous for its snowstorms.
The partnership of Seavest and locally based Ciminelli expects to complete the Conventus project by spring 2015. Kideney Architects is the project architect, and LPCiminelli is the general contractor. M&T Bank and First Niagara Bank are providing construction financing.
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