Larkinville's revitalization to open Daemen College Entrepreneurship Lecture Series

Community building and development will be addressed at the opening of the 2014-15 Daemen College Nancy Haberman Gacioch Entrepreneurship Lecture Series by featured speaker Leslie Zemsky, who, as director of special events and projects at Larkin Square, has been charged with revitalizing the Larkinville neighborhood into an entertainment destination.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, in Daemen's Wick Campus Center Alumni Lounge.

Zemsky, also known as Larkin Square's "director of fun," has generated a schedule of events and activities to revitalize the Larkinville area created by her husband, Howard Zemsky, and the Larkin Development Group, for which she serves as a partner.

The Larkin Development Group has been renovating a series of warehouse buildings that were once part of the Larkin Soap Co. Over the past decade, restoration and development in the Larkin District, now referred to as Larkinville, has included more than 800,000 square feet of office space and more than a half-mile of streetscape renovations, in addition to Larkin Square - a gathering space for public events.

Active in the Western New York community, Leslie Zemsky serves on the board of directors for the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy and Visit Buffalo Niagara.

This year's Nancy Haberman Gacioch Entrepreneurship Lecture Series, which is sponsored by the Daemen Entrepreneurship Program, will bring several community entrepreneurs who recognize the potential that exists in the region's neighborhoods through revitalization efforts, new programming, job creation or collaborative endeavors.