It has been found that engineers on Wednesday submitted redevelopment project plans for Adam Meldrum & Anderson Co. (AM&A) department store building to the Buffalo Planning Board for approval. The building located in downtown Buffalo has been vacant since long time.

The enormous redevelopment project, will involve an estimated cost of about $50 million. As per the plan submitted the building will have eight floors of hotel rooms, two restaurants and a lobby.

The plan will bring a new life to the 375,000-square-foot edifice at 377 Main St., which has been empty for more than 16 years since the closing of the last tenant.

If successful, it would rejuvenate a major eyesore in the downtown business district, where many residents and business are eager to see new activity.

The proposal submitted by engineer John Schenne on behalf of the building's new owners calls for 300 hotel rooms in all. The top two floors would feature about six two or three bedroom apartments of approximately 2,000 sq. feet each, Schemme said.

The first floor of the lobby will have hotel lobby and two restaurants, whereas the second floor would include commercial space and offices, along with 20 guest rooms.

All the remaining floors will have guest rooms and suites of at least 20 to 22 units, with the upper floors having significantly more rooms because the floors are much larger, at 40,000 square feet versus 18,000 square feet.

This is because more expansive portion of the building that dates to 1880 was only six stories high, while the later portion was added in the 1930s.

The proposal may be presented at the Planning Board meeting on March 24, but it will not have its first public hearing until April. It has also to go through standard environmental review before city planners will approve it.