The Pasquale contiunes to move closer to completion.

One decent element about this tower is that it does have some large windows down the center…for what its worth.

There’s a small two-floor build out coming out of the back of the tower…looks pretty dinky.

The back of the tower facing the CBD does look a bit better now that the windows are in and some of the units do indeed have good window views of the CBD afterall. Its a step up from the Admiral Place tower nextdoor but is still designfail. The only saving grace for this entire project is if the third and final tower/townhomes get built in order to create some sort of high-density wealthy neighborhood that makes retailers/other investors feel a bit more assured of setting up shop downtown knowing there are enough people in downtown with money to make their investment safe.

The Pasquale continues to move along quickly in the land of planning/design fail known as Waterfront Village. Not one to rock the boat, this tower adds design features that are ‘in context with its surroundings’. Good for them.

I believe the townhomes are in the stages of being redesigned since the three that are up have struggled to attain much interest. (12 more were supposed to be constructed)

Those beige lines going across the back of the nearly-windowless side of the tower are a fabulous accent too I must say.

It’s great to know that a third and final tower is in the works on the site although I dread to see the renderings. Having a fairly dense neighborhood of wealthy people in downtown is great for the city tax rolls and can possibly make retailers feel a bit more comfortable with investing in Canal Side or downtown/the waterfront in general.

But one day Buffalo will desire a well designed, sustainable city infrastructure and they will look back on our generations and think of us as thoughtless and stupid people for letting such a project evolve into what it became.

Satisfying news coming out of the Buffalo News today about Carl Paladino beginning the planning process for the 3rd condo tower in the last remaining parcel around it.

Architecturally speaking the whole place is mediocre at best and urban planning-wise its a disaster. Making vast amounts of waterfront property private, parking in the front almost everywhere, and pathetic connectivity to the adjacent central business district-all mortal sins in the world of planning. Sadly, that is partly why this place works. People with money want to be downtown but they don’t trust it enough to live where they’d have to interact with the crazies and hobos and the non-existent criminals roaming around. Times have changed since the 80’s when this part of the waterfront became high-end residential-but the mindset has only changed for the better slightly.

What is good about this place is that it was able to attract people with money to pay property taxes in the city of Buffalo and to create some sort of residential/waterfront momentum while nothing else could. With it now attaining a fairly high density for Buffalo standards, it potentially creates the need for a nearby grocery store, coffee shops, clothing stores, and other everyday needs.

I’m excited to see this community finally get build out. Perhaps in the future as people need more sustainable living-the wealthy residents will demand better infrastructure that creates great multi-modal connections to their surroundings, creating a more vibrant downtown. For now, its just good to see the demand for residential space in downtown Buffalo to keep strong.

For a while now, Carl Paladino has been floating around the idea of converting the former Baker’s Shoe store into luxury apartments. The project was announced at the same time of his intentions to redevelop the Courtyard Mall next door.

The Courtyard Mall ended up being the new NYS Parole Office and ideas were floated around last year for the office component (1st floor) of Baker’s Shoes to be a spot for institutionalized people with mental disorders AND luxury apartments on top (concept FAIL). I don’t think that is still in the works. Parolees and the mentally unstable deserve good facilities but it doesn’t quite fit in with what Main Street downtown should have.

Anyways, not much if any work has happened on Baker’s but now that the Courtyard Mall rehab is complete (and oh what a rehab it was!) it might be Baker’s turn now. Apparently a gutting of the facility is taking place now. Hopefully that actually is the case.

The Pearl Street side of the building is actually quite attractive and its a very deceptive structure-I never think of it as a 7-floor building when I see it on Main. Here’s hoping the rehab is underway and that it works-not sure how easy it will be to get people with money to live next to a parole facility.

Waterfront Place continues to come along at a pretty fast pace. As the tower continues to get closer to completion, it appears they have begun preparing the site for additional townhomes next to the three new ones that have already been built with this project.

Speaking of the townhomes…some pretty decent urban design for this neighborhood. Good lighting fixtures, fairly close to the street, and the driveways have a shared community type look to them-promoting neighborly interaction.

Back to the condo tower, the heavy gray walls have been pretty much completed-quite the uninspiring look, especially when its going to be the edge of what will be a neighborhood park.

And then here’s the back of it.

The condo tower at Waterfront Place has been topped off after 13 floors came up at a fairly quick pace.

A quick look at the bricks they’ll be using for the facade (gray ones for the garage floors (1&2) brown for the rest).

Construction keeps chuggin’ along at Waterfront Place as there is only one more floor of to add to the condo tower.

The first few of the townhomes are done and although they’re not great they are at least less anti-social than their older neighbors aka the properties are right up to the sidewalks and not hidden by common surface lots and shrubbery.

Really excited to see how depressing the CBD side of the condo tower looks. So far so good…

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?).

According to the News, Courtyard Mall won’t be getting a rehab center for the mentally ill.

Now correct me if I’m wrong but I only knew about a Parole office coming to the old Courtyard Mall/Baker’s Shoes project being done by Paladino.

Whoa can you imagine a building that has an parole office AND a rehab center for the mentally ill AND luxury apartments all in one?!?!

That my friends, would be an “Only in Buffalo” type of deal right there.

All kidding aside, having the rehab center in the downtown core wouldn’t be very smart anyways…good to see they’re looking to move near the medical corridor instead.

Looks like Waterfront Village is finally ready to grow as planned before I even knew how to count.



*Thanks to WCP for all the pics

Another one of those infamous BR comment battles is taking place as we speak. Some say the design sucks (I agree), some say that those people should shut their mouth because any development is good development, and a bunch of other remixes of those opinions are thrown in there as well.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you think but it’s obvious that Ellicott Development planned this place in the 80’s and wanted to market itself to people who would perfer to live in Clarence or OP, isolated from society and noise except Clarence and OP don’t have a waterfront.

So it’s good that we get some land to market ourselves to a wealthy clientele that otherwise wouldn’t live near downtown. That’s great. Problem is that as Waterfront Village continues to come through with its vision we will look back one day and say “Wow, our waterfront outside of ‘Canal Side’ is a pain to get to from downtown, has nothing, and is exclusive to its residents.” Right now that isn’t much of a problem because it’s great to see some new development on the waterfront, but if our waterfront/downtown/city ever become a thriving place we will regret the way this place was planned.

And that’s just the planning. The architecture? Not so great. Ellicott Devel. isn’t really known for having awesome looking structures, but they always fit their clients well. It looks like a generic condo tower. Could be a seaside condo in Florida, or just another condo to add to the new cluster of them on Rockville Pike in suburban Maryland. Vernacular architecture is clearly not on the agenda here.

Some say “Well if you don’t like it…don’t live there.” I won’t live there, but everytime I’m downtown, or see pictures of downtown anywhere, this 13 story structure to go along with the Admiral’s Walk tower will be predominant because it’s right on the waterfront…a photographic gateway of sorts to the rest of the city…everytime you watch Channel 4 news-thats the picture you see.

We have some beautiful tall buildings in the CBD, why not on the waterfront too?