The former Voelker's Lanes site at the northwest corner of Amherst Street and Elmwood Avenue has officially changed hands, with Voelkers Apartments LLC closing on ten properties in the area for $4.1 million on Monday, November 9, 2026. The sale clears a major hurdle for a long-discussed mixed-use development that's supposed to bring hundreds of new apartments, ground-floor retail, and — if revised plans hold — a reborn bowling alley to the North Buffalo corridor.
According to Buffalo Rising, Voelkers Apartments LLC bought the parcels at 666-680 Amherst Street, 1624-1634 Elmwood Avenue, and 111-155 Marion Street from three sellers: Labrador Building Systems Inc., Burt Voelker LLC, and Charlie the Magnificent LLC. The outlet reports that developer SAA|EVI is behind plans for a five-story, 230-unit mixed-use building on the site, though the project's unit count has shifted across different accounts over time.
Conflicting Numbers on Units and Parking
Just how many apartments will actually rise on the site remains a bit murky. Buffalo Rising's report puts the figure at 230 units, while WKBW has described the proposed five-story building as holding 229 apartment units with commercial space on the first floor. The discrepancy likely reflects different versions of the plans circulating at different points, and the available reporting doesn't clarify which number matches the version the Planning Board ultimately signed off on.
Parking is similarly unsettled. Buffalo Rising's account lists 77 parking spaces for the planned building, while Audacy has reported the project would include 170 dedicated parking spots. Audacy's coverage also describes the building as anchored by 230 apartments across one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, aligning with Buffalo Rising's higher figure for that particular number.
Bowling Returns to the Plans
One detail that's held steady through the project's evolution is a nod to the site's bowling past. Audacy reports that developers are adding an eight-lane bowling alley and bar to the first-floor commercial space, a callback to the Voelker's Lanes name that once anchored the corner. Buffalo Rising adds that the planned building will include 11,300 square feet of first-floor commercial space along Elmwood Avenue, with the remaining building area planned for affordable apartments.
The building's planned amenities, per the same outlet's reporting, include a community room, staff office space, a mail room, and a refuse room, along with rooftop solar panels, an open courtyard, a bicycle repair station, and secured bike storage. Revised plans also remove a previously planned second-floor terrace that would have sat over part of the rear parking lot.
Planning Board Signs Off, Construction Eyed for 2027
The Buffalo Planning Board approved the revised project plans on November 2, and the project is expected to start construction in 2027, per Buffalo Rising's reporting. WKBW reports that developers have said construction could begin next year, pending the completion of financing and remaining project preparations — language that stops short of guaranteeing a firm start date.
Buffalo Rising reports that Passero Engineering Architecture designed the project, and that a second phase will convert a four-story warehouse on Marion Street into 30 additional residences. That phase-two framing traces back further: a 2024 report from bowlny.com described SAA|EVI moving forward with a 275-unit, two-phase development at the site, with the first phase envisioned as the same five-story, 230-unit building and the second phase renovating a historic building at 141 Marion Street for 15 apartment units alongside a new four-story building at 111 Marion Street with 30 more units.
Rising Costs and Regulatory Filings
Audacy's earlier coverage noted that the development's estimated price tag had climbed 12.5 percent, from $80 million to $90 million, a jump the outlet attributed mainly to rising construction costs. That cost pressure has coincided with the project working through state environmental review: a 2024 notice from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation states that the Buffalo Planning Board, acting as lead agency, determined the proposed Voelkers Lanes Apartments project would not have a significant adverse environmental impact.
More recently, a 2026 DEC notice confirmed the agency received a Brownfield Cleanup Program application and a Draft Remedial Investigation Work Plan from Voelkers Apartments LLC for the site, identified as site ID C915421. The notice establishes only that the application was received, not its current status or outcome. With the land now sold and plans through the Planning Board, the project's next real test will be whether financing comes together in time to meet the 2027 construction target developers have floated.
