Canalside

Statues for legends, could it work for the Sabres?

Chris Ostrander3 Comments

The Buffalo Sabres fortieth anniversary brought about some very cool festivities and features. A new alternate jersey, the Albright Knox exhibit, the in-arena history exhibit and more. What the year-long celebration told me was there is a wonderful opportunity for a permanent Sabres Hall of Fame.

The Bobby Orr statue outside of TD Garden offers a nice template for the Sabres to potentially draw from.

I’ve shown interest in the Sabres involvement with the space which formerly housed the Ira G. Ross Aerospace Museum and the Backstage Club prior to that. Previous posts have been dedicated to my pipe dreams and I even used the Blog Summit forum to offer a suggestion regarding the space.

For those who haven’t read up on the subject; I envision the Sabres taking advantage of the empty space as a team-oriented Hall of Fame. Better yet, the 12,000 square feet (thanks Mr. Black) could be devoted to Buffalo hockey history. Regardless, I see that space as a perfect spot to celebrate the team’s history. In addition to putting together a Hall of Fame, I have come upon another idea regarding honoring the team’s history around the arena.

My most recent light bulb moment comes thanks to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens will be unveiling a Mario Lemieux statue outside of CONSOL Energy Center. Much like Chicago, Detroit and Boston (to name a few), the Penguins will immortalize their greatest player with a statue outside of the arena. Why don’t the Sabres do the same? Continue reading →

Some random thoughts for the outer harbor

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This post has been a long time coming. While I don’t consider myself as an expert on city planning, I’ve been around to enough cities to see what does and doesn’t work. This summer got my mind working as to what is still missing from Buffalo

I was able to find my way around the city and took in quite a few of the best activities WNY has to offer. Still, I feel like there is so much potential waiting to be unlocked. For the first time I don’t think Canalside is the center of this. I actually think the Outer Harbor is where the greatest opportunity lies.

The well documented white flag waved by the NFTA has made the enormous expanse that comprises the Outer Harbor available for purchase. With all 60 acres are up for sale, seems like a great chance for someone to do something dramatic, sort of like this.

Allow me to dream big for a moment. Outside of a savior stepping in and saying they will build a brand-spanking new stadium for the Bills on this space (because that would be totally badass), I would love to see the Buffalo Zoo relocated and expanded on a large portion of this land. I understand the capital involved in such a project is rather inconceivable, but I’m simply thinking out loud. Continue reading →

Get your lawsuits ready: Benderson awarded Donovan Building contract

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It seemed more than inevitable that Benderson Development would win the request for the rights to the Donovan Building. For what it’s worth, no other RFP was submitted in the process. The more important piece of this pie will be what effect the development has on the greater Canalside development. Update: Buffalo News story on Canalside. I will comment on this at a later juncture.

Here are the basics (per Buffalo Rising):

  • Benderson will invest $30 million into the site, plus a $1 million deposit that they will start work by December (thanks Buffalo News)
  • Phillips Lytle will occupy the top four floors of the building
  • There is going to be nearly 12,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space on the ground floor, plus a two-story parking garage
  • All of this will go into a re-skinned version of the building which marks the first private investment into Canalside

THE. FIRST. PRIVATE. INVESTMENT. IN. CANALSIDE. Let that simmer for a moment. The grass huffers who shelled out all that dough to the triangulation and power of 10 seminar are getting their wish. This form of investing falls into the lighter, quicker, cheaper mantra of the anti-big box retailer gang. Well, at least it is following their theory of allowing the development to occur organically. Continue reading →

My Sabres practice arena pipedream

Chris Ostrander4 Comments

I am a big proponent for developing the city of Buffalo. I even touch on it in this space from time to time. Those of you who follow me on Twitter, or sit behind me at work, know that I have been dreaming up a grand vision for a practice/junior hockey venue near HSBC Arena.

After a little bit of Photoshop and Illustrator work I have a picture to go with my ramblings. Please excuse the polish of my work, I am quite the novice when it comes to both Photoshop and Illustrator. The pictures and overall vision can be found after the jump.

I gave this creation a name just so it looks a little less bare. I chose to call it the New Era Centre because the cap company is a large Buffalo-based corporation and the name flowed well off my tongue.

Basically this idea cropped up in my head because there are two enormous, barren surface lots in the “Cobblestone District” that don’t get very much use. It is a real shame because the remaining buildings in the District have a similar feel to the Distillery District in Toronto. I began thinking of things that could be put in their place to add some life and density to a neighborhood that is composed of about six buildings on one city block. This multi-purpose arena came to mind.

Continue reading →

Boston offers hints for Buffalo’s future

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I took another roadie to a city with quite a bit of history and tradition this past weekend. Wouldn’t you know it, there are plenty of ideas staring you right in the face that make you wonder, “why isn’t this being done in Buffalo?”

The belly of Quincy Market. The food court stretches down the hall in both directions on the bottom floor.

The city I visited was Boston. I caught a Dispatch concert that absolutely kicked ass and I was able to taking the area in and around TD Garden (the USRT boys certainly know this area) and I was able to stroll many a city block taking in the history and architecture of that great city. I also hung out a Quincy Market, an ideal template for some of the questions floating around Canalside and the waterfront.

I will first say this, I understand that Boston is one of the oldest American cities with boatloads more history and tradition than Buffalo. I also am well aware that Boston dwarfs the Queen City in size. But that is ok. What I want to focus on are key cogs, not the big picture.

No beating around the bush, though. Quincy Market is EXACTLY what Buffalo needs. I mean E-X-A-C-T-L-Y. It is filled with shopping and eateries in an open market setting. There is room for kiosks – for those functional lawn fans who only want t-shirts being sold – while having, gasp, national chain retailers as well. Basically, it is like taking parts of the Galleria Mall and turning them inside out so people can enjoy the weather while they shop. By the way, the snow argument doesn’t really hold water considering Boston’s geographic location. Continue reading →

An interesting development on the water

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Not long ago there was a terrible plan unveiled saying that the only thing you need to put on the Buffalo waterfront is a hot dog cart and a couple of lawns.

The rendering for the Canalside public market

Today there was a much more exciting plan that will probably never see much farther past today in terms of planning. Still, it is fun to dream. Today, the Erie County Harbor Development Corporation (ECHCHCHDCHD for short) pounded this baby on the people of Buffalo. My does that have the potential for greatness. Continue reading →

Vision for the outer harbor

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The owner of Dug’s Dive, Tucker Curtain, has a brilliant idea for a portion of Buffalo’s outer harbor.

A brilliant vision and great plan for the Outer Harbor

 

The folks over at Buffalo Rising Online broke the story about the businessman’s vision for the underdeveloped parcel of waterfront.

It is a really great idea. None of it comes off as cheesy or useless. It is obvious that he planned out the potential additions with time and care. Add to that the fact that he didn’t try and use any sort of historical interpretation which should keep him clear of any protests. The fact that he left out functional lawns, the power of ten and triangulation makes this plan that much better. Continue reading →

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 →

Preservation vs. Obstruction

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Sam Savarino and Roger Trettel are very smart men. They have created very successful real estate companies and have taken the reigns in helping to develop what is left of the Cobblestone District.

 

This needs to happen

One if their neighbors, Daryl Carr (owner of Cobblestone) has been trying to demolish a set of buildings on the corner of Illinois and South Park for some time. What will replace them is up for debate, but it seems like parking lot is where the spinning wheel of ‘progress’ may land. Continue reading →

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 →