By JAMES FINK
Business First

The growth of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus is fueling plans by an investment group to construct a $10 million multi-tenant office building along Main Street.

The project marks an unofficial expansion of the still-emerging medical campus as it brings new investment to Main Street. To date, the bulk of the expansion has taken place along High, Ellicott and Washington streets.

"It takes Main Street one step further," said Christopher Dirr, Savarino Cos. vice president of development. "And it does extend the boundaries of the medical campus, with the (Elizabeth) Olmsted (Center for the Visually Impaired) just across the street."

Savarino has been retained by the local investors - who are keeping their identities private - to serve as developer and general contractor of the proposed 30,000-square-foot, two-story building, slated for the corner of Dodge and Main streets. CB Richard Ellis' Buffalo office has been hired to find tenants.

Dirr said the building is not speculative. Two tenants are about to sign leases for at least 10,000 square feet of space. He said he hopes to start construction next spring when the building is more than 50 percent leased.

V. Jeffrey LiPuma, CB Richard Ellis broker and office managing partner, said he expects to market the building to either medical or bioscience-related tenants.

"That's the way things are shaping up right now," LiPuma said.

The project has been in the pipeline since midsummer. The investment group, through Savarino Cos., negotiated an option to purchase the Buffalo Tourist Lodge, an independent motel that has been operating on Main Street for more than four decades. The motel will remain open until the deal closes.

Dirr said he expects to apply to the Erie County Industrial Development Agency for a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes package. The project also will work its way through Buffalo City Hall to gain the necessary approvals required before construction can begin.

Dirr said the project is being driven by prospective tenants who want to be part of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

"The medical campus was a necessary component," he said. "Main Street is important, but so is the medical campus."

The project also is expected to serve as another bridge between downtown Buffalo, the medical campus and such uptown developments as the recently opened Artspace complex.

"What was really tough was finding the space we needed to build a 30,000-square-foot building and have enough room for parking," Dirr said. "When we looked around, the motel space was very obvious."