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.

Remediation process is moving along swiftly at the Aud (huge relief to see it finally happening) and the central wharf is nearing completion as the lighting fixtures and trees are being put in to complement the boardwalk that is almost entirely in place now.

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.

Buffalo has always had some curious development proposals-specifically ones on the waterfront. 50 story towers, 40 story towers, multiple large towers forming a new city on the outer harbor, and I’m sure there are more.

There’s a new one that I called BS on as soon as it was announced but the more time progresses the more it looks as if it is actually real. The Freezer Queen rehab project is closer to a reality and the developers have some serious ideas up their sleeves.

One issue is to whether or not that absorbs a lot of the demand for condos in the downtown area since it is such a huge facility (a reason why the city did not want the Trico plant to go condo). Although it is a rehab in the city-its not downtown and there is a decent demographic of people who feel the urge to live in the CBD and this facility wouldn’t do it for them. I’m curious to see what types of people will in fact live in Freezer Queen…I’m thinking middle aged empty nesters mostly.

Forget downtown, will this rehab create any spinoff for the surrounding areas? There is a very likely possibility that Freezer Queen would remain a stand alone island of high end living.

The outer harbor is the way it is for a reason. Absolutely pathetic connectivity to the CBD/Inner Harbor area for every mode of transport would be the most important reason. The new Rt5 design should help that to an extent but I would be hesitant until the rt5 project is done. With a well developed Inner Harbor (couple years away), better road connectivity (coming soon), along with a pedestrian/light rail bridge the Outer Harbor will be as valuable as a waterfront property should.

Perhaps the cheesy post-modern glass facilities in the rendering won’t get built but it looks like the Freezer Queen really will become condos in a couple years.

The ‘Central Wharf’ area which was once pinned to be the site of Bass Pro about a year ago is seeing its use as a large boardwalk/wooden wharf type place come to fruition.

Its taken forever to get to this point for no apparent reason but it appears that since they’re 100% done with the Commercial Slip and west side of the project that they can start working this part at a fast rate in time for the a decent amount of summer.

I never realize just how large this project is until I’m at Main Street by the arena looking straight towards the water…far, far away.

Even if the retail is slow to come (which will probably be the case) Canal Side will serve as probably the most unique public space in the region-and a very tranquil, relaxing one at that.

In other news…the Aud is surrounded by poles suggesting that some serious gutting is about to get underway

NEMO homes has proposed some new townhomes to complete one residential area on the waterfront (views of water not included). They look pretty decent and are good just on the basis that it finally fills the empty lots around it.

Very logical project, and a good sign about the demand for middle/slightly above middle income living in the city.

But the opposition is strong. And I have yet to hear a good reason for it.

Buffalo Rising’s armchair architects/architectural scholars/urban planners/experts on society chime in.

Here are some choice quotes from the local papers:

“Looking at the proposed development compared to the existing homes, it is an absolute deviance,”

This one is pretty awesome:

Still, some nearby residents fear the project will hurt their property values, especially if it cuts into street parking options that currently exist.

“It violates the concept of Waterfront Village,” said Daniel Zak, whose townhouse neighbors the proposed development site. “Waterfront Village is a distinct neighborhood and is the result of 30 years worth of planning and development. If it is built, I’m going have to have a shuttle to bring people in for my annual Christmas party.”

Gotta love ‘time capsule-city’.

Buffalo News article
BizJournal’s coverage

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).

The fencing is off and now the current phase of the Inner Harbor revitalization project is nearing a close. I mentioned before that the overall urban design is very good and it should be a really popular spot when the weather warms up and when retail arrives (heh.)


The museum looks pretty good, and there seems to be a 3rd floor patio…I remember reading something about a cafe being part of the museum. And the interior of the museum itself looks pretty good too. Small…but good.

I’ve gotten different stories on whether or not the remaining land that is fenced off (all on the HSBC arena side of the Inner Harbor) is about to begin the laying out of the infrastructure (streets, central wharf, etc) or its contingent on other factors related to the Bass Pro development. I’d love to see that massive amount of land get done with already.

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…