Popular Buffalo Bill Works To Revitalize Buildings In Buffalo

We've heard about football players giving back to the community, but this player is putting his own personal touch on these Buffalo buildings.

It's not uncommon to hear about football players who use their charities to give back to the community in which they play. However, it's not often that you will hear that they are going to roll up their sleeves and do something about the physical buildings where people live. But that's exactly what Dion Dawkins is doing.

Dion Dawkins teams up with Sinatra & Company Real Estate

According to WGRZ, Dion Dawkins will be teaming up with Sinatra & Company Real Estate for the "Sinatra Shnow Opportunity Zone Fund" in a joint effort to revitalize three separate projects in the Buffalo area.  It's an investment of around $45 million.

Nick Sinatra will act as the developer on these projects and he says that Dawkins will be putting his own personal touch on all the design elements.

"What I envision is to put the history of the football team, to put the history of the city, in this building" - Dion Dawkins

Here are the projects they will be working on

The first project includes an office building that has been empty for a long time  at 191 North Street in Buffalo.  That building will be upgraded to include mixed-use housing with both workforce and market-rate units. That work will begin this summer.

The second project is the Market Arcade.  That will involve creating 53 market-rate apartments.

The third project will be the Spaulding Building at 765 Main Street.  They will be turning that into two dozen apartment buildings, and work on that will begin in 2026.

Sinatra is confident that with their investor base and the people that Dion knows around the country, they will have the capital that they need to get the projects done on time.