Story Highlights
- Park Grove Realty and STEL partner on the Riley Brook Apartments in Hamburg.
- The 70-unit affordable apartment community is meant for those making 60% or less of the area median income.
- Residents started moving in over the summer, and all but two units are occupied.
Construction of a $25 million apartment project in Hamburg has been completed on budget and ahead of schedule.
Developers held a ribbon-cutting Thursday for Riley Brook Apartments at 4445 Riley Blvd.
The 70-unit affordable apartment community is meant for those making 60% or less of the area median income, with eight units set aside for residents with disabilities. It consists of seven two-story apartment buildings offering such amenities as electric car chargers, a playground, fitness center and clubhouse.
Riley Brook is a partnership between Park Grove Realty of Rochester and Southern Tier Environments for Living of Dunkirk. Construction started early last year.
Andrew Crossed, managing partner and co-founder of Park Grove Realty, said his company had managed to keep a full pipeline of projects in Western New York despite a difficult development environment. “It is tough,” he said. “Expenses are going up. Rents are not going up as much. You need to be smart. You need to have a town that wants affordable housing to be successful.”
Riley Brook was funded in part through New York State Homes and Community Renewal.
Residents started moving in over the summer, and all but two units are occupied, Crossed said.
The average rent is $850 a month for a one-bedroom unit, $1,000 for two bedrooms and $1,190 for three.
Crossed said representatives from Park Grove and STEL met through acquaintances a while ago and realized they could help each other. Park Grove had been eyeing the Hamburg project for some time and realized getting a nonprofit like STEL on board could help make that happen.
Meanwhile, STEL had been trying to bring a housing project to the former Silver Creek High School site in Chautauqua County and realized Park Grove could help get that over the finish line. That $20.16 million, 54-unit project is under construction now.
Thomas Whitney, executive director of STEL, said his organization has completed about 20 development projects in the last 25 years and has several
more in the works.
Whitney said partnering with developers like Park Grove on projects that combine housing for those with disabilities with more general affordable housing is a good way to help address the severe need across the region.





