An update on whats going on with the 20-year planning process of Paladino’s ‘50 Court’ in today’s Buffalo News

Someday, somehow this will get built. Obviously I want to see a 10-story building occupy a surface lot near city hall instead of a parking ramp for an underused office-tower owned by someone who couldn’t care less about Buffalo (Hotung) but it is clearly a symbol of the days in which City Hall let Paladino do whatever he wanted to do even if it meant some suspicious dealings (Hotung paid over a million for this site. Paladino…a dollar?).

I’ve been against this project but as long as the airport only takes flights that physically can not use the BNIA’s runway. The falls is enough of a destination to land large carriers on occasion I assume. The renderings are nice and should be a good asset to the region-making it more marketable to outsiders.

From the official website:

New Terminal Initiative

The NFTA Board of Commissioners is currently pursuing funding to construct a new 65,000 square-foot terminal at the NFIA. The proposed two-gate facility would accommodate near term demand without excess capacity. The state-of-the-art design would provide for efficient, customer friendly passenger processing, two level layout for jet bridge boarding, food/beverage concessions, federal inspection station and in-line baggage screening. The new facility has an estimated cost of $27.5 million.

The creative design of the proposed new terminal reflects the grandeur of the Niagara community, promoting a positive “Gateway Image” to the region.
Desgined to make a great first impression

Gross Floor Area: 69,430 square feet

Floors: 1-1/2 stories

Facility: Designed to process a fully loaded B-747 International flight in 1-1/2 hours. The holdroom will be able to handle two 757-300 simultaneously at 90% seating or an international flight and a domestic flight simultaneously.

Outgoing flight processing time (terminal front door to gate): 757-400 is 90 minutes, 757-300 is 60 minutes.

Amenities:

Curbside check-in facilities

Eight stationary ticket counter stations and additional electronic check-in positions

Two security check-in lines

Two gates: one jet-bridge and one ground loading

International & domestic facilities

Simultaneous Operations capability/capacity for International & domestic flights

Fully functional TSA facilities

Customs & Border Protection facilities for International travelers

Multi-modal Metro transit center

Car Rental, Information, and Eatery facilities

Seal? On ice?! Brought to you by Musselman’s Applesauce?!?! These three things combined are too awesome to put in words. Sadly it will be a one-night only presentation in DC.

Regular blogging is about to resume.

One morning upon arriving at work at the Gap, I see we had hired an older gentleman which in itself was a bit of a double take but it turns out he’s a local celebrity of sorts…

DJ Harv Moore of Oldies 104 in Buffalo. Before coming to Buffalo he was a DJ in my other hometown back in the DC area with WPGC (rap station all my life) Wtf?!

Smooth radio voice and a quick wit for sure. But I can’t help but laugh at the absolute “only in Buffalo” randomness of this situation. Oh and there is a picture of him on display at the Smithsonian Museum on the National Mall introducing the Beatles at their first ever USA concert in DC when he was a DJ down there.

Apparently the Buffalo station became an adult top 40-type station a couple years ago so he left and in case anyone wondered what he’s up to these days…well…he’s opening large boxes of Gap clothing with me in the morning.

If you care for some architectural readings in your life, I’ll share with you what I have been reading recently.

I just finished reading “S,M,L,XL” by Rem Koolhaas of OMA. Koolhaas has some of the best and most realistic ideas about cities-where the went wrong, where they contiune to go wrong, and where they will go wrong-and of course his solutions. His books are a trip in terms of their bizarre layout and design but I was captivated through the 600+ pages overviewing his views on different projects his firm did and his views of society. Incredibly fascinating person and I wish someone in Buffalo commissions OMA to do work in Buffalo.

Another firm I love following is Morphosis-headed by Thom Mayne. Although their buildings aren’t always the most elegant or pleasant to look at (am I the only person who doesn’t think the new San Fran Fed Building doesn’t look good?), Mayne has some really fascinating ideas regarding urban issues and society in general and how architecture does/can/should play a role in it all. This reading is a bit dense at times and the portfolio layout is avant-garde to say the least but an interesting read nonetheless. Another firm I’d love to see do some work in Buffalo.

Both of these minds are regarded as some of the best minds in the world of architecture and have some brutally honest views of cities and where they are going.

A different kind of read that I have only read bits and pieces of is “Up from Zero” by Paul Goldberger. A book about all the chaos behind the planning for the new development to stem from ground zero. The bureaucracy and exhausting amount of input into major developments will ring familiar in any Buffalonian’s ear. Its an interesting look at the process of planning and the competion that comes with it in what is probably the most important project in America’s history.

Although not nearly an exciting a read, Gordon Bunshaft’s biography is an interesting read. Buffalo-born and quintessential modernist, he has a mysterious and simplistic persona that is reflected in his work. No one really knows much about him and that is probably what makes him somewhat interesting. He left a wonderful mark on Buffalo’s built environment with his Knox extension to the Art Gallery…a great example of high quality modernism.

This probably isn’t up everyone’s alley but I discovered an awkwardly hilarious series of interviews that take place in downtown Buffalo during a Thursday in the Square about lettuce.

Some of downtown’s finest characters are found and asked a series of questions about lettuce. Good times.

Kenny Mayne is always good for some high quality ironic humor on ESPN. Here’s one I apparently missed earlier this year with Marshawn Lynch as he proves Willis McGahee’s thoughts on Buffalo to be wrong.

This summer I wrote about the Bills having a downtown stadium and in what circumstances it should follow. A lot of people don’t believe in it but I insist.

The best and I would say only good (aka potentially profitable) location would be in the Cobblestone Parking District.

It would have to have a convention center attatched.

It would have to have a dome.

With an ample sized convention center attatched in the DOMED stadium project, Buffalo now becomes qualified to host a Super Bowl assuming that there is enough hotel space (new development trends suggest that is quite possible).

With an ample sized convention center the HSBC Arena can FINALLY host an NHL All-Star game and maybe even a Final Four.

If located in the Cobblestone area it feeds off the Inner Harbor, Arena, Casino, modest office/residential development around it, light rail, and CBD parking ramps without becoming a monolith in the heart of the CBD (see: current convention center). This location puts the stadium in a postion to be a truly unique urban football stadium and actually feed off and help add life to its surroundings unlike most urban stadiums and unlike what a stadium on the Outer Harbor would do.

The stadium could be European in a sense. Not too much immediate surface lot space for tailgating. Park in CBD parking ramps (downtown already has parking infrastructure for 60-70,000 people), get drinks at the bars/restaurants and hop on the light rail for free if you’re a bit too far away from the stadium.

Its’ expensive as hell ($800 mil) but if you go half-ass on it you won’t see a good return in the lesser investment (no ability to make the huge money off hosting a Super Bowl, NHL All-Star game, or NCAA Final 4)

And then (while we’re still in La La Land) we can tear down the old convention center and restore Genesee Street to the condition in which it should be.

Okay. Back to reality…

Every once in a while I check up on the construction going on in and around the new Washington Nationals Ballpark. DC is practically making a new city out of this development and its really something to watch evolve from what was one of the um…less glamorous areas of DC.

It got me thinking about the planning process for HSBC Arena. I was 7 and all I remember was the ceremonial groundbreaking.

Did planners agressively pursue developing the surrounding parcels for housing and retail and a better LLRT station? like they are now with Canal Side?

Obviously the markets we’re dealing with are different but I would think that if while planning for the HSBC Arena, focusing on getting surrounding parcels developed to accomodate a hotel, an apartment building, some office space…nothing too crazy…they would have been able to make the Arena area more of an experience than a park-and-go.

It seemed like projects unaffilliated with each other would pop-up from time-to-time. An intermodal station here. A new skyscraper there. Both never actually happeneing. Eleven years since opening things look pretty much the same in a scattered and slow process of developement. A canal slip here, a pub and office building therre. Its good. Its a start. But This shouldn’t have taken 11 years. No excuses.