BUFFALO, N.Y. — The deadline for the last tenant to vacate the Buffalo's Shoreline Apartments has come and gone.

4 p.m. Thursday was the deadline for John Schmidt to get out of his apartment at the aging complex on Niagara Street.

Schmidt received a formal eviction notice Monday, nearly 500 days after tenants were asked to vacate the property by Canadian Developer Norstar.

Schmidt stayed to protest the developer's plan to tear down the 40-year-old apartments after low-income residents were forced to leave to make way for new market rate housing.

He hopes his protest sends a message.     

"I'm not into it for the apartment, it's the way they did things, it's the principle of the thing. A foreign corporation comes in, bribes American politicians to give them millions and millions of tax dollars so that they can kick out American tenants and destroy perfectly good low-income housing. This is so wrong on all levels [that] it needs to be fought, it needs to be publicized and it needs to be stopped,” said Schmidt.

Norstar released a statement this week saying they simply want to bring nice affordable housing to the downtown business corridor and that the residents who were relocated are welcome to come back if they qualify under the state's low-income housing regulations.

It hopes to resume the development project in the spring.