When Catholic Health Services, Buffalo, N.Y., closed Our Lady of Victory Hospital in nearby Lackawanna in 1999, health system management promised to find a new life for the 1919 building. Aimee Gomlak Brace, vice president of strategic redevelopment at the system, had to find a use that would fit with the system’s mission and be financially self-sustaining. She considered office space and classrooms, among other uses, but settled on housing for low- and moderate-income seniors.

“Go for a natural use,” advises Brace, “look at what surrounds the hospital. Find something that resonates with the community.” With studies showing the area had a senior housing shortage and a high concentration of elderly, it seemed a fit.

In October 2006, Catholic Health Services had the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Victory Ridge Apartments, part of the Our Lady of Victory Renaissance Neighborhood. As part of the entire $26.8 million project, another acute care building will be renovated to create an 84-bed nursing home, with space dedicated to an adult day care program. The project also promises to add some 250 jobs to the area, which made it easier to raise money from state and local sources, says Brace.

Creating the apartments in an existing hospital presented challenges. The $10 million project included four floors each at Our Lady of Victory Hospital and the St. Luke’s building, built in 1929, which was formerly a nursing school residence.

“It was a puzzle, no question,” says Ed Adams, project manager and director of the health care practice at Kideney Architects, Buffalo, N.Y. “But there were many solutions.” First, contractors gutted the building, leaving only concrete slabs on each floor. Previously the hospital’s corridor was in the middle of the building with rooms flanking both sides. Designers opted to offset the corridor to the outside so they could have a larger footprint for the apartments, says Adams. The sloped roofs and window configurations on the exterior gave architects a chance to create interior hallway alcoves, using the church pews from the former chapel. “It creates a place for people to gather,” says Adams. No two apartments are exact replicas, and Adams says they are often larger than the state-required 600 square feet for a one bedroom and 1,000 square feet for a two-bedroom because of the layouts that fit the building. The project kept original windows, and in some cases replaced windows that were bricked up. “We wanted to maintain the character of those buildings, and residents appreciate the fact they don’t have cookie-cutter apartments.”

Another feature yet to be built is the Main Street. The ground floor area will have shops, a community room, a salon, gifts shops and a café, which will encourage seniors to stroll the facility.