Rising above the Elmwood Village neighborhood of Buffalo, next to the colleges, museums, and cafès that populate the area, a series of student-housing complexes stands ready for its first influx of residents.
The Monarch 716 apartments were designed with nearby Buffalo State College undergrads in mind, but students from any of the city’s colleges— as well as nonstudents—are welcome. There are nine apartment buildings on the site, and every window in each building is made by MI Windows and Doors. In all, there are 1,722 windows throughout the property.
“We don’t get many orders like that,” MI Sales Representative Tim Gilliard says. “We’ve done some projects with our local distributor Big L Windows & Doors before, but this was by far the biggest. We ordered a full truck of windows every other week.”
MI’s 3500 vinyl single-hung windows were used on the project. Our top-selling window, the 3500 single-hung comes standard with dual-pane glass and a warm-edge spacer system, so they’ll be able to keep out the cold during those unyielding Buffalo winters.
In addition, our 3500 Series windows are available with an optional bronze laminate or painted exterior that allows them to be customized to the aesthetics of any project. For the 716 Monarch buildings, the windows boast a bronze exterior laminate finish.
Available for exterior applications over white vinyl windows, the laminate used on our 3500 Series windows offers a satisfying look that’s warranted for 10 years. After the profiles are extruded, the laminate finish is applied by a series of precision rollers and blades.
“The architects had some concerns about bronze finish on vinyl windows,” says Bill Horbett Sr., the president of Big L Windows & Doors. “But with the help of MI’s in-house architectural team, those concerns were answered and the project went forward.”
Filling the buildings on campus shouldn’t be an issue for DHD Ventures, the owner of the site. Buff State—as the locals call it—the University at Buffalo, and Canisius College have approximately 44,000 students between them. As the colleges continue to grow, the need for student housing has increased.
Once students begin to populate these new residence halls, they’ll also be adding to the youthful dynamic of Elmwood Village, a neighborhood sometimes referred to as “the museum area.” In addition to the universities, this section of the Queen City features plenty of trendy restaurants and shops.
What’s more, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Burchfield Penney Art Center, and the soon-to-be-opened Richardson Olmsted Complex Architecture Center are all in the area. The new buildings at Monarch 716 add a pleasing aesthetic to what was already a hip district.
“I go by Monarch 716 all the time,” Gilliard says. “They turned out great. It’s real impressive looking: The windows are all the same size, right in a row.”
