A community forum to discuss the future of the former Sheehan Memorial Hospital site on Michigan Avenue is scheduled for Friday afternoon. It’s an opportunity for neighbors and community members to share their views and hear more about new plans for Sheehan from McGuire Development and potential building tenants.
This Open House and Community Conversation will run from 1 to 3 p.m. at the shuttered Michigan Avenue facility. Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Buffalo Council members Darius Pridgen and Demone Smith, as well as Council President Richard Fontana, are expected to join Senator Tim Kennedy to take part in the discussion.
“I encourage area residents to join us for this important community conversation to discuss the future of the former Sheehan Hospital,” Kennedy said. “Sheehan is a hospital of firsts – it was the first hospital to include the electric ambulance, the first hospital to have its own private fleet of ambulances and the city’s first burn center. The plans to revitalize this historic building also strengthen the vision of the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor.”
McGuire Development was awarded the right to purchase the former Sheehan site and took title of the property after the Sheehan Memorial Hospital Board of Directors filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York.
Throughout the process of devising plans and gathering tenants, McGuire Development has made it a priority to remain transparent and foster open dialogue about the future of the 425 Michigan Avenue site. They will outline their vision and unveil the new name for the former hospital at the event.
McGuire is intending to fill the 150,000 sq.ft. campus with tenants focused on clinical medical delivery, science and technology operations and workforce educational training, as well as community revitalization organizations.
Currently, the Langston Hughes Institute is utilizing the facility for temporary office space as it finalizes plans for its new location on Broadway. University Pediatric Dentistry, P.C. is also set to occupy and provide a dental clinic on the site to provide local families with high-quality dental care in partnership with UB’s School of Dental Medicine. Unyts is also expected to move their operations to the site from 110 Broadway.