Two in the Box

Thursday will be the first opportunity for many Sabres fans to see the team’s new scoreboard in person, among other improvements made at KeyBank Center. 

The new scoreboard is a massive improvement, literally and figuratively, for the building. Pictures don’t do it justice, it’s a stark difference in size and quality within the seating bowl. Few, if any, who questioned the need for a new scoreboard will have those questions answered when they see the new screen in action. It is a truly impressive addition. 

With apologies to the work done on the roof, the scoreboard is the first major step the club has taken in an effort to renovate their 28 year old building. Future plans for the structure remain unknown, but Pete Guelli hasn’t been coy on the subject and I won’t be surprised if more work is to come next offseason. 

In the meantime, it’s possible that the Sabres will have a new neighbor, one that could tie the area around the arena and Canalside into a more cohesive arena district. 

Buffalo Pro Soccer is down to their final two locations for their stadium site, and The Buffalo News lots are one of the two finalists. There’s a long way to go yet, and it’s entirely possible their other location is where they aim to build, but the potential for the club to call the Cobblestone District home could serve as a shot in the arm to further development in the area. 

Development at Canalside has entered its third decade and the stalled Heritage Point project has caused headaches for everyone involved. Yet, work is expected to begin on the North Aud Block in early 2025 and in addition to The Buffalo News complex, Douglas Jemal has also purchased the former HSBC Atrium. Considering the footprint of a potential stadium, it seems likely that Jemal will be involved in the development of the building in some manner. Even if he’s not, dropping a stadium onto the yawning surface lots in the Cobblestone District could set the stage for something bigger. 

Arena districts were again a talking point after the recent announcement by the Carolina Hurricanes regarding their plans for a $1 billion mixed-use development surrounding Lenovo Center and Carter Finley Stadium. The buildings in Raleigh are six miles from downtown and adjacent to the NC State Campus, a different setting than what the Sabres and the Buffalo USL team would have here. The Carolina plans are a great fit for that space, allowing for tailgating to live on, while tacking on mixed-use space to create more of a destination pregame, post-game and on non game days. Their needs are different than that of Buffalo, though the need to fill out the space around the respective venues in both cities is clear. 

If Buffalo is to follow in the path of other cities that have built active, mixed-use districts around their arena, the best template to use remains Columbus. The district is home to the Blue Jackets, Clippers and Crew, with hundreds of apartments, public amenities, bars and restaurants making it a year-round destination. It came about thanks, in part, to buy-in from Nationwide. Buffalo may not have a ready-made corporate partner willing to chip in on the development of the larger Cobblestone and Canalside area, but they don’t necessarily need it. While progress at Canalside has been laborious, the project is still moving forward and soon enough, the entire North Aud Block will be filled with ongoing construction or completed projects. Should Buffalo Pro Soccer opt for the Cobblestone site, virtually all the space along Washington to Michigan will be headed towards new development – though there is no timeline in place for Jemal’s plans for either the HSBC Atrium or Buffalo News building. 

It wouldn’t mean the area would be complete. The yawning surface lots bounded by Perry and South Park would remain unfilled, as would the lots along Michigan, and no legitimate plans have surfaced food the historic Cobblestone buildings which burned this past summer. A more substantive vision and interest from developers and tenants would be needed to fill that space. Nevermind the DLW station, the parcel owned by Benderson adjacent to Harborcenter, and the southern portion of Canalside. But, the foundation that has been set over the last 15-plus years is prime for action. 

It should be noted that Buffalo Pro Soccer is going to be building a modular stadium. This won’t be a palatial soccer mecca to start. But even in a scaled down footprint, home games and additional events will bring people to the area throughout the summer months. Between that and the North Aud Block, there will be significant activity in the area – both during and after construction. It will be reminiscent of the activity during the construction of Haborcenter and the Kim and Terry Pegula led the renovation of 79 Perry, which will have a new tenant arriving in 2025. 

With substantial change on the horizon for the arena, the role the Sabres would play in future developments will be curious to follow. An arena district that isn’t just active on event days would benefit everybody, including the team owners, particularly if there are opportunities for spin-off development and revenue streams. Driving momentum towards that result would suggest the Sabres would be wise to play some role in the larger development of Canalside and Cobblestone (more than they already have). Buffalo Pro Soccer is aiming to begin play in 2026, the year New Highmark Stadium is set to open. There is an expectation that once the stadium is complete, Pegula’s attention will turn to renovating KeyBank Center. The only thing we can count on in terms of future plans is the planned skybridge connection to the DLW station. Though with the Canalside Gateway building humming along, the office space along Seymour H. Knox III Plaza could be open and ready for new development as well (hello team museum and hall of fame). Depending on the Sabres’ vision for that space, there is potential for the arena to have additional connections to the surrounding district beyond event days and the Sabres Store.

It seems unlikely that the Sabres and the Pegulas would dip their toes into any sort of substantial external development. They stepped away from their hospitality holdings, changing course from a more aggressive tack in the pre-COVID years when they developed Harborcenter and the Labatt House. That was an understandable decision, though the development work they did on Harborcenter and 79 Perry is commendable. It would be a breath of fresh air for Pegula and the Sabres to re-engage that skillset. The stretch of Main St. that faces Harborcenter would be an ideal parcel for the Sabres to take the lead on. With the Special Events stations gone, that block is much more pedestrian friendly thanks to the a bike lane and extremely wide sidewalk along the Metro tracks. A Sabres-led development would fall right in line with the sort of work done in Columbus. It would even have some similarities to the way Little Caesars Arena is integrated into the city block they built on. Though Buffalo wouldn’t have the luxury of extending the concourses into the street-facing buildings. A stretch that close to the arena seems far more logical to develop than anything along Michigan Ave. or even the surface lots. It could add cohesion with KeyBank Center and Harborcenter – I’d have to think apartments or condos would help keep some of the Harborcenter storefronts in business – and would add to the Sabres-centric complex of buildings, giving the ability to start the fan experience from the corner of Scott and Main right up to the front door of the building. I understand that Terry Pegula may not want to run a restaurant, but I wonder if he’d be interested in being a landlord. 

Even without additional external development from the Sabres, their arena renovations can add to the positive progress taking place in the area, especially if Buffalo’s USL club chooses the Cobblestone site. Better utilization of the space along SHK III Plaza would be a welcome change for Canalside. Elsewhere, the North Aud Block project means more residents will live in close proximity to the arena (and potential stadium), creating more day-to-day activity in a district that needs to complete its evolution into an active live-work-play section of the city.

With buy-in from developers and tenants, Buffalo could have an arena district that ties together Canalside and Cobblestone, with a diverse set of offerings for people to enjoy without leaning on a venue to be a silver bullet. Rather, a complement to the development surrounding it.