It was back in 2017 when the organization Fillmore Forward conducted its first Storefront Makeover Project at 1474 Fillmore Avenue Buffalo State, with the help of Buffalo State interior design students.
Now, the organization is looking to do it all over again, but this time the group has teamed up with Masters of Urban Planning Students at the University at Buffalo to tackle a storefront renovation of Charlie’s Food Market at 927 Broadway. The students worked with the owner of the market, Yasri Alabaddi, to obtain a $40,000 revitalization grant from Eric County Storefront Program. They worked under the guidance of Emmanuel Frimpong Boamah, PhD Department of Urban and Regional Planning School of Architecture and Planning, as well as members of Fillmore Forward.
Ultimately, the project will see the restoration of the storefront, such as brick veneer, paint, new shatter-resistant windows, lighting, and signage. Other neighborhood -friendly amenities will a bike rack and a bench. The goal is to create a neighborhood hub that will demonstrate the power of such revitalization efforts, by creating a more walkable neighborhood (with more reasons to walk and bike).
Volunteer students Andrea Harder, Silvi Patel, and Shameeq Willis worked directly with Alabaddi to envision what the storefront might one day look like.
It was Alabaddi’s father who, according to Fillmore Forward, started as a cashier at the market, before purchasing the business, and eventually the building. Today the family lives upstairs and works the market, which means that they have a vested interest in seeing the transformation of the building… and the street.
It is interesting to note that the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood was once considered Buffalo’s second downtown. Hopefully, projects such as this will inspire others to jump on the restoration bandwagon, while contributing towards framing the bigger picture.
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