Announcements
Posted: Thursday, January 28, 2010New Student Residence Hall
As you have no doubt noticed, work has begun to ready the site of Buffalo State’s newest residence hall. What you may not know, however, is how truly revolutionary this construction project is—and how many people have worked very hard to bring it to fruition.
The new dorm, which will welcome its first 507 residents in fall 2011, is being paid for under a new funding model for Buffalo State. In order to answer student demand for housing without taxing limited public funds, the college asked the Buffalo State College Foundation to form a new not-for-profit corporation, the Buffalo State College Housing Corporation, with the sole purpose of developing the project.
The members of the Housing Corporation are Ross Kenzie (president), Stanley Kardonsky (vice president), Gerald Cornish (secretary), Anthony Baynes (treasurer), Susanne Bair, Timothy Balkin, and Chris O’Donnell.
The project is funded via revenue bonds issued by the Erie County Industrial Development Agency. The bonds themselves (and the operating costs of the facility) will be repaid from the fees paid by the students who will reside in the new facility. The bonds were purchased by a consortium of local banks and groups led by M&T Bank. Closing was accomplished before the end of 2009 to take advantage of beneficial features of the federal stimulus program. The Buffalo State College Foundation is the guarantor of the loan financing construction.
From the Interim President
Though a funding model like this has been used elsewhere, it is a new way of doing business for Buffalo State—and one that helps us continue to serve our students as best we are able.
Building this new funding model took hours of dedicated work on the part of many. I want especially to thank Linda Dobmeier, Buffalo State alumna and chair of the Buffalo State College Foundation; Ross Kenzie, vice chair of the foundation and president of the Buffalo State College Housing Corporation; Stan Kardonsky, vice president for finance and management and vice president of the housing corporation; Hal Payne, vice president for student affairs; Susanne Bair, vice president for institutional advancement; and all members of the housing corporation and the foundation board. Thanks to these folks and others, we will soon have a magnificent new facility in which to house our students.
