By JAMES FINK
jfink@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1611

For the first time since it was constructed as an enclosed shopping center, AppleTree Business Park will be adding a building.

Located in Cheektowaga, the 450,000-square-foot mall-turned-corporate center may get an expanded wing that could be as large as 40,000 square feet. The project carries a potential $7 million in development costs.

"We have opportunities with some of our tenants to take on more space and we need to present those options to the tenants," said James Dentinger, president of McGuire Development Co.

The company is the AppleTree leasing representative for AmCap Inc., the Connecticut-based owner. AmCap - through its AppleTree Realty Holdings LLC affiliate - took title of property that may be used for the expansion. The land had been in title with another AmCap entity, Outparcel Development LLC.

AppleTree houses such tenants as the Internal Revenue Service, Time Warner Cable, AT&T and Empire State College.

Dentinger declined to identify which tenant or tenants may be expanding, saying, "This fits into the plan to grow the campus."

The new building, designed by Lauer-Manguso & Associates in Amherst, will be connected to the existing complex.

McGuire is working with AmCap on another expansion wave that could see outparcels on Union Road built for smaller tenants such as restaurants or retail.

"That's a little further down the road," Dentinger said.

The development time frame will be based on tenant negotiations, he added.