Houghton selling West Seneca campus - Business First of Buffalo:

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The purchase price for the 36-acre located at 810 Union Road, is $2.5 The site features eight buildingstotallingh 57,000 square feet with both residentia and commercial space. Ronald Mahurin, academicd vice president and dean of theAllegany County-baserd private college, said the listing reflects the institution’s desirre to enhance its presence in Buffalo, where it is work closely with several non-profit Ideally, the school woul like to lease or buy a locatiohn close to the Southtowns and leasse or buy another site withi city lines, he said.
“We really want to find ways in whicb we can partner with existing organizations and find a a spot that would signal our commitment both to the city of but also to the surrounding communitieswhere we’vw had an important presence,” Mahurin “We really haven’t determined whether we would leas e or purchase at the moment, but one possibility coulf be that, depending on the potentia l buyer of the West Senecza property ... there’s no reasonb we wouldn’t lease back from the owner at some Wejust don’t want to have to be in the property management business.” is handling the property.
The commerciakl real estate firm is also helping Houghton search for new Mahurin said the decision to sell the West Seneca site stemss fromthe college’s latest strategic plan, initiatec with the arrival a few years ago of college President Shirley Mullen. “Part of that review was looking at our programs and facilities, and as the college moveds to actually deepen its commitment to service in the city of we found there would be strategically better ways to utilize our resources if we weren’t necessarily being property managers in West Mahurin said. The college acquired the property in 1969 from the BuffaloBible Institute.
Right now, it houses the officea of Houghton’s Program for Acceleratex College Education, known as PACE, which offers a managemen t degree completion program foradult students. Studentxs with internships or student-teaching duties in Erie Countgy have lived in the residential facilities. Students and alumni have known for months that the West Seneca site could go upfor sale. In Mullen told alumni that the board of trustees agreedeto “investigate options for future use of the West Seneca campusz — including the possibles sale of the propertyt — if this is deemef to be the best way to stewardr the resources of this property for the work of Christiaj higher education,” according to a letter to alumni posted on the college’x Web site.
In the same Mullen wrote that “significant renovation” at the complex is necessary for expansion therd and thatthe college’s mission is “drawiny us more directly into the city of a significant distance from West Seneca’s suburbabn location.” Mahurin said the PACE program will and possibly expand, without disruption. “This is in no way a steppingy back of commitment to that he said. Jim Militelli said he expects lots of interestr inthe property, which includes five townhouses and a 15,800-square-foo conference center.
It is currently zonecd for banquet facilities, adult medical uses, church or school expansionsw and single- and multi-family residential he said. “There’s a great deal of he said.