Seneca Nation purchases vacant church in Buffalo

Citing a need for a larger community and resource center, the Seneca Indian Nation acquired a vacant Riverside church with the goal of renovating the complex into an expanded center for its members.

The Seneca Nation, according to documents filed May 21 with the Erie County Clerk’s Office, paid $625,000 for the former Nazareth Lutheran Church, located at 265 Skillen St. in Buffalo’s Riverside neighborhood.

The 17,379-square-foot church, built in 1949, was owned by the Missouri Eighth District Lutheran Church Synod. The Lutheran Church put the property on the market last summer with an asking price of $685,000.

Seneca Nation officials said the Skillen Street church — which will now be called Buffalo Creek Community Center — replaces an aging center at 533 Amherst St.

The center serves more than 750 enrolled members of the Seneca Nation who live in Buffalo and provides a number of social and educational services.

Funding for the new center and its renovations came from a $1.59 million allocation made last year to the Seneca Nation by the federal HUD Indian Community Block Grant program.

Seneca officials hope to have the new Buffalo Creek Community Center complex ready by late fall.