A new apartment complex could be coming to a Town of Niagara residential area, with the help of some tax benefits.
The West Seneca-based Peter Certo Corporation plans to build 22 new market-rate apartment units on two parcels it owns on 5700 and 5710 Porter Road, across the street from the Valu and former Quicklee’s Travel Center plaza, now TA Express. The $7.13 million development would construct two new buildings, each housing 11 units, with the aim to provide housing for local workers.
“We know that (Town of Niagara is) hungry for market-rate housing,” said Chris Lofstrand, vice-president of the Peter Certo Corporation. “We see this as a better use of that piece of property.”
Each building of the tentatively named Porter Gardens would be 13,915 square feet in size, with each apartment unit being 1,265 square feet with two bedrooms, one-and-a-half bathrooms, and one-car garages. They would be perpendicular to the street with parking spaces built between them.
It would be an approximately four-minute drive from the soon-to-open Amazon fulfillment center on Lockport Road, along with plenty of other nearby businesses on the Military Road corridor.
“We know that there’s going to be an influx of jobs at Amazon,” said Lofstrand, “so we’re hoping to take advantage of those mid-wage earners.”
The company is asking the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency for roughly $2 million in various tax exemptions to help build these apartment units. Those include $1.73 million in property tax exemptions, $240,342 in sales tax exemptions, and $32,093 in mortgage recording tax exemptions. The IDA application shows this would create only one new maintenance manager job with a $60,000 salary.
Listed funding sources include $4.28 million in bank financing and $2.85 million in equity. Listed project costs include $5.45 million in construction, $1.37 million in architectural and engineering costs, and $280,000 in equipment purchases.
The two properties in question currently have single-family homes that would need to be demolished. The Peter Certo Corporation has owned the 5700 Porter Road property since the 1950s, while it bought 5710 Porter Road from Robert and Doreen Sims in November 2024. They would need a zoning variance from the Town of Niagara to allow a project of this density.
If they receive all approvals, construction would not start until the first quarter of 2027. From there, it would take between 32 and 40 months to build.
A public hearing for these incentives will take place at 2:30 p.m. on July 28 at the Niagara Town Hall.