Its’ all done. The biggest office building to be built in Buffalo since the Key Towers in 1990. What it lacks in height it makes up for in the huge amount of previously vacant land it absorbs. Will it be deemed as an embarasment to Buffalo as Cynthia Van Ness said? I doubt it. Its too generic to conjure up much emotion. And besides, the masses love glass.

The new HealthNow HQ’s in downtown Buffalo is a couple months away from opening up. In yesterday’s Buffalo News a brief article was written about the preservation and restoration of the old Gas Works facade. I found two opposite ends of the discussion to be amusing and distant from the truth…

“I think people will be poking fun at it for decades to come,” Cynthia Van Ness, of the Preservation Coalition of Erie County and the Buffalo Preservation Board

And then the opposite (and crazier one)…

The project’s architect, Steven R. Risting of Indianapolisbased CSO Schenkel Shultz, predicts the building will eventually take its place alongside Buffalo’s architectural gems. Risting noted that earlier buildings that were initially considered “too bold, too modern” are now considered local landmarks.

I guarantee that the juxtaposition of the 8-story glass facade with the old Gas Works one will be a local icon. The rest of it is just a large, generic suburban building you could see anywhere. It will never be too bold or too modern. Jesus. But it will be far from being something that the locals will make fun of…not as long as downtown is 50% surface parking and not as long as we have an inventory of ugly suburban style buildings all around our downtown already.

BONUS MATERIAL:
Live WebCam of the construction of the building.
The architectual firm behind the building (Ranked 9th in Prison design!)

The glass is starting to fill up the Waterfront side of HealthNow HQ’s. It’s kinda flashy and i certainly a lot better than the side facing City Hall. The mix of the Gas Works facade mixes in better with the glass than I thought.

HealthNow is moving along nicely. The windows are almost all in on the 6-story part of the building and are starting to come in on the huge window wall facing the waterfront. As you see in the last pic, HealthNow is actually putting the “Gas Works” facade to use, connecting the wall out to the facade (although I’ll say its a pretty crappy and boring brown wall with the occasional window along the wall).
I know its a controversial building but I think its an overall win for downtown. We won’t call it an architectural masterpiece ever, but I don’t think we can call it a blunder either. It’s a suburban construction company doing their first urban project and without any public say…based on the circumstances it ain’t that bad.

More than most projects that happen in Buffalo, this one has been moving at great speed since day one. After grouding the place in January, one half of the building has all its brick in with the windows coming up. The glamourous glass facade facing the waterfront still has a long way to go but most of the steel beams are in.

Of course, if you’re super cool-you can just watch the construction webcam everyday
http://www.dukeconstructiononline.com/bcbswnycam.aspx

*not like i do that or anything.

Here’s an article on the new

office downtown.

“We want this to literally be a shining light in an array of lights in downtown Buffalo,” said Dennis Gorski, HealthNow vice president of government programs.”

…it sounds good and sounds better than what I originally heard about a bland office park being built on the site for them. I’m not so sure about how an eight story office building can fufill Gorski’s quote, but I’ll take his word for it.

Here is to progress!

http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20050721/1052900.asp

I remember reading about this last year and then nothing…good to see this went through…can’t wait till it’s done. Is it just me, or do I get the feeling Buffalo is gonna look really different 10 years from now (for the better) ?

BELIEVE, PEOPLE! BELIEVE!