Look! Water is coming back! They started to fill ‘er up today and the construction workers gave me a wierd look for being so facinated with it.

And the Aud was open today, I’m assuming the environmental study has begun. I was so damn tempted to go inside but my fear of being locked in with a dead cell phone scared me too much

So today I was taking a stroll around the cobblestone district to look at the Savarino HQ’s and of course to cross the border into the “Soverign Nation of the Seneca Nation” (Buffalo Creek Territory) and I had to stop.
Seneca Nation po-po rolled up.
Ummmm…whaaa?
Yes, the Seneca Nation has a police force patrolling the area. I was confused as to who I was and where I was. I couldn’t even take a picture I was so shocked. But then I got myself together and smelled the cheerios coming from the General Mills plant.
I AM still in Buffalo…at least for now.

Here’s a list of projects on the table for the City of Buffalo. Courtesy of Westcoastperspective.

*Most of them are only in the planning phase but its still a pretty impressive list. We’ve certainly made some progress from even five years ago. From the way things go around Buffalo, I would expect a decent amount of the residential plans to be taken off the table or delayed for a significant period of time. But other than that I would bank on most of these projects being done by 2009. Well, BassPro is another story

OFFIC
Cobblestone Lofts- Office Bldg. Done
Delaware, 591- Renovation UC
Delaware, 599- Renovation UC
HealthNow Headquarters UC
Swan Bldg., 731 Main Street UC
WNY MRI Center- expansion UC
Court Street Tower PL
Courtyard Mall Renovation PL
Delaware, 285 PL
New Era Center- Delaware Ave. PL
Roanoke Bldg. Expansion PL
Seneca Street, 100- Renovation PL
Uniland- N. Genesee Block PL

OTHER
Bioinformatics Center UC
Inner Harbor Excavation UC
Auto Museum- Wright Gas Station PL
Bass Pro Shop (old Aud) PL
Children’s Museum- 173 Elm Street PL
City Centre Ramp Expansion PL
Donovan Building Parking Ramp PL
ECC Classroom Building, Oak Street PL
ECC Dorms, Oak Street PL
ECC Parking Ramp/Transit Center PL
Federal Courthouse PL
Roosevelt Historic Site Carr. House PL

RESIDENTIAL
Buehl Block Bldg. Reno (5 Units) UC
Granite Works (29 Units) UC
IS Lofts (24 Units) UC
Pierce Building, 651-3 Main (4 Units) UC
ArtSpace (50 Units) PL
Birzon Building (10 Units) PL
Brownstone Condos (6 Units) PL
Cobblestone Lofts (36 Units) PL
ECC Lofts- Ellicott Street (16 Units) PL
Elk Terminal- New Lofts (48 Units) PL
Ellicott Commons II (36 Units) PL
Greystone Hotel (30+ Units) PL
Hager Mills Lofts (32 Units) PL
Main Street, 456- Baker Shoes (12 Units) PL
Main Street, 535 (3 units) PL
Packard Bldg. (40 Units) PL
RiverPlace Homes, Waterfront Vill. (12 Units) PL
Saturn Rings Bldg. (25 Units) PL
Schmidt Lot Condos (36 Units) PL
Seneca Paper Lofts (30 Units) PL
Spa Lofts (3 units) PL
Waterfront Village- Ellicott Dev. (80 Units) PL
Webb Building (30 Units) PL
YWCA North St- Sr. Apts. (65 Units) PL

HOTELS
Bass Pro Complex Hotel PL
Corn Exchange— Ramada Plaza PL
ECC Boutique Hotel PL
Franklin, 204- Boutique Hotel PL

As I promised earilier in the year, every month we’ll get you some pictures of the the new projects occurring in Downtown since a lot of our readers are displaced Buffalonians.

COBBLESTONE
This is from the back facing the H-O Oats elevator

This is from the front facing the side of HSBC Arena

This building is going to look awesome when its finished. Can’t wait to see how the remaining two buildings next to it look when they start renovating them.

ERIE CANAL HARBOR
This one excites me the most. I didn’t go downtown that much until 2003 when I believe they started this project. This year they’ve really got things rolling quickly. And I’m getting pretty annoyed with a fenced-off harbor for all these years too.

The HealthNow building has had no construction on it yet, really.But it looks like since February they have gotten the entire site ready to build now.
The Pierce Apartments haven’t had much progress either since the last picture
Ditto for Granite Works

Finally.
Finally.
Paladino’s Court Street building has been approved and there are no more legal obstacles in the way of getting the damn thing done. So now Paladino has until the late 06 to begin construction. So if this gets built this means the Carl only has 999999967 of his properties in Buffalo left to complete/start construction (Not that I mind seeing a depressing-looking, boarded up Courtyard Mall and Baker’s Shoe store in the heart of Downtown).
You go girl.

Okay so I’ve been in DC since Sunday and will be in the nation’s capital until Saturday so the updates will be limited. But I do come bearing some good news for Downtown Buffalo! That abandoned Shoe store (Howard’s?) on Eagle is going to become a restaurant thanks to the owner of the Electric Tower

buying up the property with an intention of appealing to the workers of his renovated class A office tower. Good to see one less eyesore downtown!

So whats in store for me today? Well how about some leftover Bocce’s Pizza from Saturday and a Caps v. Sabres game tonight!
it’s like I never left

In today’s Buffalo News we see that Erie Canal Harbor Corp. is going to release a short/long term plan for the developement of the long dead waterfront. From what I’ve seen it looks pretty nice. Best part is the creation of the “Harborfront Market”. Someone on a blog once proposed moving Broadway Market to the DL&W Terminal. That sounded nice outside of the fact the Broadway/Fillmore would be as nice to visit as Somalia after the Market left. Before we see a new president (2008), we are supposed to see a market, BassPro, Great Lakes Musem, Hotel, and two commerical buildings on the waterfront with bridges, more commercial buildings, further development of the historical features of the harbor and new residential buildings before the war on Iraq ends (2026).
I noticed that there is no more “Inter-modal Transportation Center” that people like Sam Hoyt were so adamant about. It was supposed to happen during the days of planning for the “Adelphia Communications” Tower and was still in the plans with Bass Pro but I guess we’re all happy with having a tool shed further down Exchange Street as our train station to go along with our old “Auditorium” light-rail station that looks like it was built out of very large and colorful “K-Nex”.
Overall its a nice plan. But being a Buffalonian-I’ll believe it when I see it. To their credit, we have never seen plans this fully developed for the waterfront. It probably will not parallel Baltimore’s or San Diego’s during our lives but at least it will no longer be something to be ashamed of.
Can’t wait for that Harborfront Market to open up….sounds pretty sweet.

**map courtesy of Buffalo News

Uniland is going after M&T Bank big-time for their new Delaware Ave building, according to the Buffalo News. Since M&T is at full capacity with their two magnificent buildings on Main Street,

it seems as if this will be the most logical place for expansion based on the circumstances. Which is too bad since there is a huge parking lot behind the newer M&T building off Ellicott St. That would be a nice location for M&T to add a bit to the Buffalo skyline which hasn’t been touched much since the 70’s. Not to mention that Ellicott Street could use a little boost. It’s too bad that Uniland couldn’t get the AM&A’s building since M&T was supposedly the big company interested in moving in there. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a new office building on Main Street in place of a hopelessly abandoned department store. In fact it would be perfect-the older and taller M&T building could literally connect to the AM&A’s.

The old AM&A’s building does have its’ charms with its 1930’s post-modern design but overall its kind of a monolith downtown-especially when abandoned. (We’ll do more of a report on this building later this month). So those are my two cents about M&T’s expansion in Buffalo. And here are my two predictions for M&T’s future…
1. M&T will move into the Uniland building
2. M&T will build an office tower in Baltimore or DC within the next 10yrs.

**Uniland photo courtesy of “westcoastperspective”

Recently I was at the “Chip Strip” (by the way, a very corny nickname for that area which I intend on never using again) and saw what I believe used to be a bar next to Starbucks had become an Adult Book/Video store which I must admit made me think it was a connection to the Chippewa before my time when smut was word. I thought to myself, “Oh boy, Chippewa isn’t doing so well” but then I let the presence of a decent amount of people around me convince me that things were alright.This article, however, makes one wonder about the future of the street

There were rumors of the downfall of Elmwood earlier with stores closing and ownerships changing but that is no longer a common belief with a new hotel and new apartments being built there-showing that the masses and the big developers belive in the stability of that part of the city. Now as bad as all the bar closings sound on Chippewa, in the long run this could be a good thing. The Calumet was recently sold to someone who is believed to want to make the unused second floor into apartments-creating diversity on Chippewa. Others have complained how Chippewa is so one-faceted with strictly bars and it looks like now, that will have to change.If Chippewa can create a small residental base, and add a market and possible a bit of office space, downtown will be better for it. New bars can go elsewhere-there is plenty of vacant space on Main Street last time I checked.

PS-Here’s hoping that Adult Book/Video store closes ASAP, its something I don’t associate with a nice and stable downtown.

Why are you shaking your head? Are you suggesting the Main Place Mall is not where you obtain your retail goods? Or where you pass the time with your friends? Chances are that is what you are suggesting, and for that I say-I feel your pain. I remember as a kid back in the late 90’s when I returned to the glory land (aka Buffalo) for Christmas. My aunt who recently moved back to the city from San Francisco with her husband, decided to take me and my cousin (who lived in Japan at the time) downtown for a day of shopping! This was three years removed from the tragic loss of AM&A’s accross the street which was pretty much a declaration stating

“Buffalo retail is dead. Kthnxbye.”
It was an okay mall, it had some stores, nothing that really stood out for sure (my cousin and I had no urge to come back). All I remember was buying a Buffalo Bills pencil with a little football player eraser on top-which i used with pride in suburban Maryland through the middle school years.
Seven years later I returned to the glory land on a permanent basis and decided to visit the mall again for old times sake. Oh the tragedy it was. Its not like my memory of MPM was very vivid but I do remember shopping at stores upstaits, but there is no such thing in the current days we live in. The food court was busy since it was lunch hour but the rest of the mall?

dead.

dead.

dead.
oh the horror.
It was sad. Two stores that looked like the kinds you would see in a real mall (Foot Locker and Kids Foot Locker), and I don’t count Waldenbooks because I think it is the worst excuse in the world for a bookstore in the era of epic, beautiful, Barnes & Nobles and Borders. I came out with my head shaking, wondering “Why? Why?” Instead of using this as a reason to hate on Buffalo, I looked into it and came accross a interesting “BuffaloRising” article

So it turns out the owner, Paul Hotung is just a typical out-of-town guy who comes into Buffalo to buy properties to use as tax write-offs while letting the buildings rot. In a 2000 Buffalo Business Journal article, Hotung stated that he wanted to focus more on bringing in telecommunications companies into Main Place. He also said he did not discourage retail business but the actual retailers have another story…

After clicking the link I see that there was once a “Jim Kelly’s City Sports Grill” Are you serious!?!? I would have loved to go to that. And over 50 tennants? Only six years ago? How times change.

But it does bring up an interesting situation. The Main Place Mall, despite the rumors, did pretty well in terms of profit per square foot. It had interesting retail options, something downtown lacks greatly. In fact, there really aren’t any retail options downtown. Although its great the Hotung is able to bring in telecommunications companies, the fact is that Main Place/Liberty has a 50% vacancy rate. Which means plenty of space for retail. Nowadays, streetside shopping is all the rage, but I know plenty of Buffalonians who enjoy shopping at the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto.
Sure Main Place Mall was never a great success, but it provided some really good retail options to the 50,000 people who work downtown and to the occasional urban dweller (people like me). Its too bad its owner has a vision that I, nor many people, see.