Finally, Say Goodbye to the Shoreline Apartments

The vacant Shoreline Apartments will finally be removed from Niagara Street.

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After being delayed for years, crews have finally begun the process of demolishing the Shoreline Apartments on Niagara Street, according to WGRZ. Crews were on-site yesterday (January 23), preparing to begin razing the buildings. Funding and lawsuits were the main obstacles to removing the now-vacant buildings, which were built in 1971. The Shoreline Apartments provided affordable housing to tenants up until 2017, when the last tenants left. The buildings became a target of vandalism, including a recent fire.

Last year, according to WIVB, residents in the area complained about broken glass, crumbling concrete, drug addicts and other problems with the vacant buildings.

"The homeless people, drug addicts come in there and take refuge and do things. A lot of the cement, as you can see, is falling apart, so you never know. If a kid is in there and they just happened to pull on the wrong thing, it’s going to fall on top of them and they’re going to get severely hurt.” ~ Former Shoreline resident Luis Villegas

Once demolished, developer Norstar USA plans to create middle and low-income housing. The 166 new units will cost approximately $34 million.