Finance news

Fresh off the opening of its M&T Bank Rainforest Exhibit, the Buffalo Zoo is preparing to take on its newest series of construction projects.

Zoo representatives will meet with the Buffalo Planning Board Nov. 5 to provide an overview of new projects valued at nearly $3.55 million. They include a 2,300-square-foot expansion of the veterinary hospital and construction of a new children’s exhibit. Both should be completed within a year.

The vet hospital, at a cost of $1.8 million, is needed for the zoo to meet new standards established by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. The project has been funded primarily through private donations, including an aggressive fund-raising campaign by area veterinary hospitals. The zoo still needs to secure $150,000, however, due to an unexpected rise in construction costs.

The children’s zoo, set for a central location on the Delaware Park campus, will be constructed at the current site of the mouflon sheep and guanaco llama exhibits. Both sets of animals are being shipped to other zoos. The children’s zoo carries a $1.75 million development price tag.

Funding comes from New York state, Erie County and NexGen, an affiliate of the East Hill Foundation. Benderson Development Co., through its Delta-Sonic Car Wash division, also is helping to fund the project and created a $250,000 endowment for an on-site educator.

The new zoo will feature an historic Erie Canal motif, including a miniature canal that flows into some wetlands areas, President Donna Fernandes said freecreditreport. It will feature breeds of animals that were commonly found along the canal, including short-horned devon cattle, a berkshire pig, sheep, rabbits and chickens. The zoo is working with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy to bring in the appropriate species, Fernandes said.

The children’s zoo will feature a 2,000-square-foot barn, designed in a late-1800s style, to play off the Erie Canal theme and make the exhibit a year-round destination.

The M&T Bank Rainforest Exhibit, which opened in September, also may play a part in the zoo attracting visitors year-round.

Since opening, the exhibit has helped the zoo return to a pace that equals or tops 2007’s record attendance of 412,000. The wet spring and summer put the zoo behind by roughly 30,000 visitors, compared to the previous year. In a little more than one month, however, it picked up 25,000 additional visitors including, for the first time, a bridal party that used the exhibit as a photo backdrop. Fernandes said several area photography clubs have visited the exhibit since it opened.

“We’re back on pace,” she said.

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