On a sunny day in the fall of 2024, the executive team of Uniland Development Co. stood alongside the senior leadership of their client, BestSelf Behavioral Health, celebrating the grand opening of the new BestSelf headquarters and Child Advocacy Center in a redeveloped medical office building to support their growing operations in Buffalo.
The project, which literally involved raising the roof of the structure to add a new top floor, was a crucial addition to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, the region's healthcare hub, and the surrounding Allentown and Fruit Belt neighborhoods. It also signaled a welcomed return to growth for the medical campus after a pandemic-induced development slowdown that saw numerous medical providers opt to locate in suburban outpatient facilities over urban projects.
Uniland had acquired the property at 899 Main St. in early 2019. At the time, it was a vacant former office building on the periphery of the BNMC. Uniland subsequently purchased an adjacent parking lot from a city agency in January 2020, just weeks before COVID-19 hit, to finish assembling the site.
After marketing the redevelopment to potential users, Uniland soon arranged a deal with BestSelf Behavioral Health, the largest community-based behavioral health organization in Western New York, serving over 41,000 children and adults with mental health and substance abuse disorders.
Collaborating with Uniland, BestSelf realized the project's potential to consolidate its executive and administrative operations and establish a larger Child Advocacy Center to better support this vulnerable patient population. After dozens of meetings and site visits to multiple existing BestSelf facilities, Uniland's team internalized the organization's diverse operations and programs. Based on their findings, the Uniland team proposed adding a third floor to the structure, the first time in Uniland's 50-year history that it had taken on such an undertaking.
For its role as a transformative mental health facility providing a modern and supportive environment for BestSelf's administrative operations and the critical services offered by the Scott Bieler Child Advocacy Center, the project earned a 2025 CoStar Impact Award for lease of the year in the Buffal market, as judged by a panel of local real estate professionals.
About the project: For many partners, the most impactful element of the project is the Scott Bieler Child Advocacy Center at BestSelf. The new facility consolidates services spread across multiple locations, bringing together a multidisciplinary team, including law enforcement, victim advocates and forensic interviewers, under one roof to perform critical casework.
BestSelf President and CEO Elizabeth Woike articulated the new center's importance when she said "The expanded center will enable BestSelf to serve every child in our community who needs support. This represents a monumental improvement from the CAC's previous location, which could only accommodate one-third of the more than 3,000 annual cases of sexual abuse reported in Erie County."
The construction of a third floor with 14-foot ceilings to maximize natural light, supported by a meticulously engineered new steel framework, was a design highlight. The project also included installing a whole building generator for uninterrupted operations, a new cooling tower, 87 new heat pumps, and energy recovery units to improve efficiency.
A hallmark of BestSelf's new third floor is the welcoming design, which provides a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor environments. These innovative systems utilize high-quality glass panels that can be opened and closed, effectively transforming a wall into an open doorway.
"This completely redeveloped, world-class facility will provide Western New York's largest community-based behavioral health organization with the space and resources it needs to enhance the lives of children and adults throughout our region," said Uniland CEO Michael J. Montante.
The project secured a $2.5 million grant from Empire State Development's Restore New York Communities Initiative through Erie County as well as a $2 million Western New York Regional Economic Development Council Capital Fund Grant and a $1 million funding match as part of the Restore New York Round 7 application process through the New York State Empire State Development Restore New York Communities Initiative.
Additionally, a generous undisclosed amount donated by the Scott Bieler Family Foundation secured the naming rights for the Child Advocacy Center at BestSelf, and a $500,000 donation from the Russell J. Salvatore Foundation resulted in the Education and Event Center within the facility being named in his honor. Numerous other foundations, individual donors, and BestSelf's investment made the project feasible.
What the judges said: "Child advocacy is still in dire need of support in our community. This project helps thousands of silent voices in need of care and healing," said Margaret Tuerk with Iskalo Development Corp.
Brandye Merriweather, Buffalo Urban Development Corp., added, "The project provides centrally located and accessible services to young people within an urban area. The location is clustered near other healthcare and educational centers and close to transit. The incredible amount of investment in this project will have a major impact on our urban center and Buffalo's Main Street."
They made it happen: Uniland Development Co.'s development of the three-story, 67,000-square-foot BestSelf Behavioral Health Headquarters and Scott Bieler Child Advocacy Center involved a large team of professionals, beginning with Uniland Executive Chairman Carl J. Montante, CEO Michael J. Montante and Vice President-Marketing & Strategic Initiatives Carl Montante Jr., providing the leadership to transform the site into a vital behavioral health facility.
Partners on the brokerage side included David L. Schiller SIOR, of Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage Co., who was involved in Uniland's acquisition of 899 Main St. from Excellus Health Plan in 2019. Adam Koehn CCIM, of AK Commercial Advisors, arranged Uniland's 2021 sale of the facility to BestSelf. Additionally, Uniland acquired the adjacent large parking lot at 853 Washington Sts. in 2020 from the City of Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency.
The project required innovative architectural approaches to expanding and optimizing the facility on the site footprint. This was accomplished through a partnership between Uniland's Planning & Design team led by Director Kevin B. Kirk R.A. and Architectural Designer Nicholas Karl, working with Interior Designer Kimberly A. Bentley to create the collaborative workspace design for the BestSelf staff and a welcoming clinical environment for the Child Advocacy Center's young patients.
Jeffrey Kloetzer, vice president and architecture regional manager, and Patrick Monti of LaBella Associates directed the core and shell architecture design for the project. Project Manager Andy Marino of Tredo Engineers provided civil engineering, and Partner Matthew Etu, P.E., of Tredo Engineers provided structural engineering.
President and CEO Elizabeth Woike leads the BestSelf team. Its facility management team is headed by Gregory P. Gawrys, vice president of facilities and purchasing, with additional support from Uniland Property Management Director John A. Dieter and Senior Property Manager Jennifer M. O'Connell.
The project was a fitting career capstone for Uniland's Vice President of Construction and Planning & Design David J. Reilly, who retired a few months after the project's completion. Uniland's Senior Construction Executive Dennis W. Steszewski was the project manager, working closely with junior project manager Joshua Ruda and Site Superintendent Dave Ryerse.
This complex construction project involved many contractors, including HVAC and plumbing services by DV Brown and electrical services by Lighthouse Nabali. Additional contractors included Zoladz Construction Co.; Stockwell Construction; RE Krug Corp.; Vogt Sprinkler; Barry Steel Fabrication; Sahlem's Roofing & Siding; Bison Elevator; Mancuso Steel; Cozzwill; Fairway Floor Covering and Superior Contracting, among others.
CoStar Market Manager Coleman Applegate contributed to this report.
This article was updated on Mar. 31 to reclassify the award category as the Redevelopment of the Year for Buffalo.