Buffalo Waterfront Development

Just another Canalside headache

Chris Ostrander2 Comments

I have had just about enough of this nonsense. For more time than I wish to calculate I have been following the waterfront development in downtown Buffalo.

This was a great first step

When the Commercial Slip was opened I was overjoyed. It is a great interpretation of the rich history of Buffalo. All the while it was modern enough not to look like it had been pulled directly from 1867. Between the rewatered canal, the whipple-truss bridge and the two replica canal-era buildings, it was a step in the right direction. Not to mention there is plenty of signage around the area to keep one occupied for some time.

After that was put in I eagerly awaited the next step. And I waited, and waited and waited. While I waited the cobblestone streets were laid in their historic locations (despite the fact that the skyway cut parts of them off). Of course the preservationists exclaimed these streets were a hodgepodge of crap and took away from the district. Just a heads up on that one boys, you can’t take away something that doesn’t exist yet. I will say that the modern street signs look like ass down there, those are a mistake.bye funny part about how those street were laid is that the preservationists put up a stink so the streets stuck to the original grid but all they accomplished was a bunch of one-way avenues with no on-street parking. News flash, cars bring the people to your places. Continue reading →

HSBC decision extended

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The Buffalo News broke a story this afternoon saying that HSBC will be given 90 more days to make a decision regarding their occupancy of Buffalo’s tallest office building.

Right now there are three options; remain in the HSBC Tower, purchase the ‘Webster Block’ in anticipation of a new build and (the scariest option) move the employees out of the city. If you ask me this is a no brainer, build a shiny new office building across from the arena and HSBC Atrium building. For those thinking a lawsuit would be necessary because a new building wouldn’t fit in with the historic Canalside development, climb out from under your rocks and tell me if the World Trade Center on Baltimore’s waterfront is causing any problems.

A new build would saturate the downtown office market with class A office space in the existing tower. Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t the owner of the tower claim a move would lower the cost class A space and allow for numerous companies to improve their current set up? To me that sounds like a perfect storm. Two massive office buildings in the city center filled with employees. Hmmm…how can obstructionists find fault with that, I wonder?

To me a new building smack near the water does a few things. I already listed the benefits to the downtown office community, but tell me the Buffalo skyline couldn’t use a little boost from another tower. Not to mention adding some density to a neighborhood that is little more than windswept parking lots. Lastly, this sort of build would boost the potential of the Canalside neighborhood. The 2000 (estimate) employees that will be going lunch or dinner year-round during the week, weekend happy hours and a 30 second stroll to the arena for events certainly screams for some sort of bar/restaurant presence. Where better to build than Canalside. Yet another solution to the $64 million question.

C’mon HSBC make the decision we all know you want to make.

Lighter, quicker, cheaper. Code for smaller, dumber, ineffective

Chris Ostrander1 Comment

I know dumber shows my prowess of the English language, but bear with me on this one. I had a long rambling post half written before I left work but all of my writing disappeared. So I get to start from scratch.

A while back I had a very productive conversation with a writer whose opinion I value greatly. Especially in the matter of development. We discussed a whole matter of topics ranging from the Outer Harbor to the Larkin District. However, the meat and potatoes of that conversation dealt with Canalside. The person’s name is Andrew Kulyk and he recently wrote a fantastic column regarding this topic for WNYMedia.net. Some of what is to follow will be quite similar to what Andrew wrote, mainly because we share a very similar opinion.

First I should thank Andrew for writing the column to give my brain a kick in the ass to write this post. I have been mulling over it for some time and I am now finally putting pen to paper….or fingers to keyboard in this case. Continue reading →