When Sam Savarino spearheaded an effort to bring a series of Mississippi Street buildings back to life, he wasn’t thinking about making a statement. But he is.

Savarino and Chris Jacobs from Avalon Development represent the private sector’s confidence in downtown.

“Real estate is a medium where momentum speaks volumes,” said Richard Reinhard, managing director of Urban Development for the Washington-based Urban Land Institute. Reinhard is a former executive director of Buffalo Place Inc., and former aide to then-Mayor Anthony Masiello.

The Savarino/Jacobs project is the latest in a series of developments along the lower Main Street spine of downtown that has the potential to be the city’s newest hot neighborhood.

Sam Savarino represents a new wave of developers involved in the rejuvenation of long ignored areas of industrial Buffalo.

It began a decade ago with the opening of HSBC Arena, followed by the reconstruction of Inner Harbor area and the opening of the Lofts at Elk Terminal.

On the horizon are the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino and a Bass Pro store in Memorial Auditorium.

“Elk Street (lofts) demonstrated to a lot of people that residential can work there,” said Jon Dandes, Rich Baseball Operations president.

Rich Baseball jumpstarted the new wave of development along Main Street when it built Dunn Tire Park in 1988. For years, it was the only development there.

“Buffalo and Western New York is really a show-me area,” Dandes said. “Everyone was waiting to see what everyone else was going to do down there. Now, we are finally seeing some activity take place.”

Savarino knows a lot of eyes will be watching his progress.

“You know people are pulling for you,” Savarino said.

The Savarino/Jacobs team will invest between $15 million and $20 million on the three-pronged project.

The project entails:
• Converting a five-story, circa 1915 building into 36 upscale condos. The