Buffalo News - ECIDA May purchase Red Cross building

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ECIDA may buy Red Cross building on Delaware Ave. for use by nonprofits BY: David Robinson (mailto:drobinson@buffnews.com) The Erie County Industrial Development Agency is considering a purchase of the American Red Cross headquarters building on Delaware Avenue, with the idea of turning it into shared office space for local nonprofits, including the Red Cross. The IDA and the Red Cross have agreed to gauge the interest of other non­profit groups in moving their office to the Clement Mansion at 786 Delaware Ave. if the economic development agency were to acquire the building. 

The IDA has included $4.2 million in its proposed 2017 budget for the Red Cross campus project. Steven Weathers, the IDA president and CEO, said the idea behind the agency purchasing the mansion would be to create a campus for non­profits where they could have affordable, high­quality facilities and shared resources. "We want to encourage enhanced efficiency and operation of local non­profit organizations," Weathers said. "This concept of a shared resources non­profit campus has been successful in many other locations across the country." If the IDA were to purchase the mansion, the Red Cross would keep its offices there as the lead tenant in the building, said Rosie Taravella, the Red Cross' Western and Central New York Regional CEO. Real estate brokerage CBRE has been retained to analyze the potential acquisition and interest in the project. That analysis is expected to be completed by the end of the year.