New York: Buffalo AIDS Agency Drops Plans to Move, Will Expand Current Facility

AIDS Community Services (ACS) has called off its planned move to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Instead, the organization will buy its current location, the former Roanoke Hotel on South Elmwood Ave., and build an addition behind it. The decision was in response to federal budget constraints.

"It's awful that we have to grow but significant that we can grow," said Christopher Voltz, ACS director of marketing and special projects.

In the past two years, ACS' caseload and medical practice have nearly doubled: It now has more than 1,000 clients. Previously, ACS' work was limited to education, treatment and support. Now, however, it seeks to branch into research through a partnership with the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

ACS was founded in 1983 and became a major health care provider after it moved to the Roanoke in 1996. Now, said Voltz, "We're bursting at the seams."

When the $7 million project is finished, the newly christened Evergreen Center is expected to serve as a national model for AIDS service agencies. More than 150 people will eventually work at the center, which will double the size of the region's first HIV-specific medical practice and will house research and adult daycare programs. The expanded building will be owned by a partnership composed of ACS and developer Michael Joseph.

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