New York State Announces Opening of $9.6 Million Intensive Crisis Stabilization Center in Buffalo
BestSelf Behavioral Health Opens 24/7 Facility Providing Stabilization Services for New Yorkers Experiencing a Behavioral Health Crisis
Western New York’s First Intensive Crisis Stabilization Center to Provide Alternative to Unnecessary Emergency Room Visits
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There’s no room for groupthink on this CEO’s team
Elizabeth Woike didn’t plan to spend her career working as a counselor and certainly didn’t expect to become one of the region’s most powerful female leaders. In fact, she chose to study geology and international studies during her time at Yale University.
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Game-changing crisis center to open its doors in Buffalo
A long-awaited facility to serve children, adolescents and adults experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis will open at 9 a.m. Thursday in Buffalo.
The opening of the BestResponse Intensive Crisis Stabilization Center, at 430 Niagara St., took more than three years to come to fruition. Local leaders hope it will be a game-changer for those in Western New York facing a crisis, but who previously had few options to seek the right level of help.
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BestSelf Opens Western New York’s First 24-Hour Intensive Crisis Stabilization Center
BestSelf Behavioral Health today announced the opening of the BestResponse Intensive Crisis Stabilization Center, a first-of-its-kind, 24/7 facility in Western New York designed to support people of all ages experiencing mental health and substance use crises. Located at 430 Niagara Street in Buffalo, the center will begin accepting clients tomorrow, Thursday, January 22, and will serve residents across all five counties of Western New York.
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Uniland Development expands footprint, from medical school to mall transformation
By Lian Bunny
As the region’s largest commercial real estate developer, Uniland Development Co. is involved in a lot of different types of local projects.
The 51-year-old, family-run local company continues to adjust to changing market needs, including this year converting two floors of its Embassy Suites into luxury apartments in response to demand for more upscale living options downtown. The business also recently launched flexible warehouse and storage suites at Eastport Commerce Center in Lancaster.
“We are versatile, figuring out what is needed in the community,” said Laura Zaepfel, vice president of corporate relations. “We have the land, so we come up with a product that will suit that need.”
Uniland offers construction, design, leasing and property management. In 2024, the firm developed 464,000 square feet valued at $162 million. In 2025, the company grew those numbers to developing 517,000 square feet valued at $240 million.
• Notable projects included completing a $22 million administrative headquarters for BestSelf Behavioral Health and the Scott Bieler Child Advocacy Center.
• Projects in the works include FeedMore Western New York’s 197,700-square-foot warehouse and commissary space on 74 acres in Hamburg and an Evergreen Health medical office building on the East Side.
• Other major projects on the horizon include transforming the Eastern Hills Mall into a town center, mixed-use project and D’Youville’s $30 million student housing facility and osteopathic medicine building.
Uniland has already done pre-construction work on the medical school at 285 Delaware Ave., Buffalo and expects to start construction in January, targeting completion by year-end. Construction on the student housing will also begin next year.
This year, Uniland was also selected for a public-private partnership with the City of Buffalo to acquire and redevelop a 60-acre site on Bailey Avenue for a new Department of Public Works Campus and Resiliency Center.
Despite industry challenges over the last few years, Uniland’s outlook into 2026 is bright.
The Editorial Board: Erie County’s mental health situation has deep flaws, but work is being done to repair them
There’s an axiom that goes like this: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” It applies to many fields of endeavor, from government to business. It’s particularly important in mental health outcomes, which is why a report by the Crisis to Care Collaborative is so informative, useful and actionable.
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Learn MoreBestSelf prepares to open crisis center that ‘community has been missing for quite some time’
Brittany Derry has been waiting to open the BestResponse Intensive Crisis Center for three years. Three years of design, planning and then construction. Three years of state paperwork.
The waiting gave Derry and BestSelf Behavioral Health time to collaborate with area agencies to ensure that the crisis center fills a gap and is exactly what it needs to be for the community. But the waiting also was difficult, because Derry, who has worked in the mental health field for a decade, knows the need for this type of center is immediate.
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Daytime Buffalo: Christmas wrapping drive at Prohibition 2020
Daytime Buffalo: Christmas wrapping drive at Prohibition 2020 | Sponsored Segment
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Not enough staff, services available in Erie County for mental health crises
Kevin Beckman of BestSelf describes plans for BestResponse, an intensive crisis center under internal construction at BestSelf on Niagara Street.
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