D&K On Grant Street = Huge Potential

this would be a wonderful boost for the neighborhood. the close proximity to prish should give added incentive to any potential investor.you forgot to mention the fact that right around the corner there are also many active retail stores like, russ's bakery, dibble true value hardware, nail salon, salvation army store, and the west side plaza that supports a laundromat, family dollar, grossman's bargain outlet, athletes foot shoe store, and mark & dales apparel. the entire area is still considered to be the GRANT FERRY MARKETPLACE.the sale and renovation of the building you write about can do nothing but improve the entire area. i have also heard that it can cost up to 700,000 bucks to renovate this space. i wish this old building all the best, and thank you for seeing the potential this area has. can't wait to hear about the inside in your next segment!!!

this would be great if it can become real. i have been critical of the current and past administrations neglect of once great neighborhoods, but this is an example of a number of neighborhoods with a ton of potential. the buildings and houses all along grant street are pretty much intact and in good shape structurally. it is also great that some businesses have remained there for decades, frontier liquor, guercio's, royal printing, even otb and m&t/hsbc. i have always believed that neighborhoods are built from the center out so if areas like grant/ferry, broadway/fillmore, bailey/gensee, tonawanda/ontario etc...can be successfully commercialized again, it may allow a good neighbohood to flourish and be sustained much the way elmwood and hertel sustain their neighborhoods. it would be great if the current administration can include something like this into their long term vision.

Newell,
I totally agree with you. I've driven down Grant St. so many times (my roommate does banking at the HSBC branch there) and there is so much potential with numerous street front buildings waiting to be redeveloped.

Doing a huge Re-use project such as turning the former Dulski Federal building into the Mixed-use 'Avant' has shown this city that anything is possible with the right plan and financing.

It would be great if the Grant-Ferry Association could become a "Community Development Corporation". This way they could access funding, and do their own development. This might be what it takes to get things started.

Does G-F do any work with the local LISC office?

Good luck.

I walked most of Grant St. recently and I really have to objectively say, this street is largely a disaster....keep in mind I shop there several times a week and I genuinely love the West Side.

No doubt that Guercio's is thriving. However, Italian Village has recently closed (merged with suburban location they say), Frontier has gradually become a TOTAL ghetto business and Meating Place is in decline. The overwhelming majority of commercial property is boarded-up. When I talk to my barber Nick (a 30-year Grant St merchant), he laments the loss of his long-time customers to the suburbs. If Frontier--or OTB for that matter--is an anchor for this street, I fear for its future.

The volume of trash on the street reminded me of some of the developing countries I have visited. Moreover, the surrounding residential streets continue to seriously decline--owner occupants are dwindling, the number of vacant homes has grown significantly and crime--both petty and violent--are a serious problem. When I pass Grant and Garner, or Congress and Auburn, or Grant and Forest, my thoughts occasionally turn to the murders that have occurred in these places--there's maybe a dozen more I can list.

I have lived west of Richmond for over twenty years and I have witnessed its steady decline. When I was college-aged, TONS of college kids lived on and around Grant Street. Even streets like Dart had some student residents. That's really no longer the case.

I believe this was traditionally by and large a working class neighborhood. As the economy of WNY has decline, I have seen this neighborhood changing into an underclass neighborhood.

I wish Prish (and the Somalis who have started a couple of businesses) good luck. Maybe Sweetness 7 will work. Maybe Grant St. can be elevated one block at a time, but I think economic and social realities will keep this Grant Street (and Ferry, Forest, etc.) in decline.

tough neighborhood, not safe at all...very risky but needs help

The decline of this neighborhood even in the last 10 years has been staggering. Any positive developments (like this idea) would be a nice starting point to bringing that area back.

lots of potential on Grant, but you need a growing city, not shrinking to make these projects work. I hope the best, but Buffalo can only do so much with what it has untill new business, jobs and populace moves up there. For a city of 270k it is doing ok with EV and hertal, but for other area's to take off, more people!

Grant st has such enormous potential. If we can get an influx of buff state students there it would really get things moving. I really think it will be a cool neighborhood in a few years provided some developers and city residents take a few risks.

I've always said if you are going to go big: go Grant Street. But remember to carry plently of single containers take out style in brown paper bags.

this area has more crime than University Heights...and thats saying alot...

The D&K doesn't have to become a glitzy cafe society loft development, it just has to have an occupant that drives traffic into the area and raises the level of interest in redoing other places nearby. A used bookstore, for example, wouldn't require an expensive makeover yet could entice students back into the area and drive other kinds of feeder businesses to create a critical mass. And $125,000 for 20,000sq. ft. of pure potential is a steal.

Of course these buildings could be redeveloped tomorrow if Buffalo State moved some of the non-academic facilities into the building.

Take a lesson from Rochester....The D&K Building would make an incredible 2 Barnes&Noble or Borders Campus Bookstore.

of course dont let me lecture....feel free to say what non-academic uses Buffalo State could relocate to Grant Street.

Remember, every non-academic building that gets moved to Grant Street means more room on the core campus for classrooms and labs...while stabilizing the neigborhoods surrounding the Buffalo State Campus.

This is a great article, which shows a fresh perspective on what can be done if/when an urban developer have an interest in a city, not just someone with a mindset of a contractor, steps up and actually develops something. The other article about Tony Goldman in Miami shows what has been done when someone loves a neighborhood and the architecture. Add the interesting idea of BSC relocating non academic space on their campus-hence freeing up space! 10-20,000 students are allegedly waiting for being accepted into the college, so what are we waiting for??

while I think the design and reuse ideas are great, we also have to realize this area (at the moment at least) is simply not economically vibrant enough to sustain this. I know sometimes you need the "if you build it they will come" mentality, but I spend some time each week going from gurecio's to Rotundo's, and I completely agree with Beaster, Grant is a MESS. It would be better to fill in the gaps on Elmwood (sweet tooth, whatever asian restaurant failed last, etc.) or do something with the expanding Ellicott Street, etc.

Obviously you know very little about retail...do you have any idea how much bookstores add to their profit margins by having an instore CAFE with food and drink and WIFI? ALOT!

Anyway...relocating the campus bookstore off campus to GRANT was only one example.

There are others!

As far as adding 10,000 students reducing quality, well that is idiotic. Why? Buffalo State is refusing many of those students because it refuses to add DORM and Classroom space. Second, most colleges accept sub-acceptable students but force them to take remedial courses before starting the academic program. Infact they make ALOT of money that way! Furthermore, there are even alot of colleges where one can take high school courses and get their GEDs.

So as long as a colleges accepts people and lables their academic standing correctly then they are NOT lowering academic standards.

Last point....Buffalo States tuition makes it a bargain even if students are accepted on contingency or probation.

Students are NOT being accepted at Buffalo State because of the incompetence of the incompetence of their minority/gender appointed/tenured president.