City February 21, 2009 11:10 AM

You've Come A Long Way, Baby!

queenseyes 22 1

While scouring through some photos the other day I came across this shot of the decaying truck terminal. It's hard to imagine that this was the condition a couple of years ago. Now the transfer station is home to Morrissey's Irish Pub and Benchwarmers sports bar. It was August of '06 when I first posted on the future use of the building - two and a half years later we have two fully operational businesses inside occupying 100% of the space.

Throw in the Benlin Distribution Services warehouse, a renovated ice house at 26 Mississippi and 49 Illinois Street and... well, just take a look back in time. All the way back to 2005 when WCP first posted on the Savarino/Avalon future plans involving the historic Cobblestone District. For those of you who may have been out of town, the Cobblestone District was out of sight, out of mind. Nobody even knew where this district existed unless they happened to park there during a Sabres game. Hey, check it out for yourself - can you believe that only a few short years ago Mississippi Street looked like this?

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Watts Architecture & Engineering Officially Opens Downtown from Buffalo Rising on May 5, 2009 11:45 PM

For some time, we at Buffalo Rising offices downtown have watched the building on the adjacent corner transform from unoccupied eyesore to yet another one of downtown's hip, rustic office buildings. The 5-story was renovated with the help of Savarino ... Read More

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Ike

February 21, 2009 11:27 AM

Very cool

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funkybones

February 21, 2009 11:43 AM

I was born and raised Buffalo, have bounced around the country for a bit, and am thinking of coming back for grad school. I love what I see happening here in the Cobblestone area and if I could would like to be a part of it but I am concerned that some of the new lofts and residential units are a little too high end for my budget. Are there any reasonably priced units in the area?

Otherwise, good news all around. If this can keep up it will be a really cool and unique part of town.

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Kimon

February 21, 2009 1:31 PM

Compared to the rest of the country, just about ALL the units are reasonably priced. I've been checking craigslist as of late, and have found some really great downtown 2-bedroom apartments in the range of 500 bucks a month... if you do a little bit of research, it's near impossible NOT to find a great deal.

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georged

February 22, 2009 6:38 AM

The fact that you can find a 2 bedroom anywhere in the city for $500 shows you just how bad off Buffalo is. No one wants to live there, that is why it is so cheap. Simple supply and demand.

These days i am not sure why people try to compare Buffalo with big cities when it comes to real estate, etc. Buffalo is really in the league of the Toledo, Ohios and Grand rapids, Michigans of the world.

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Armchair MBA

February 22, 2009 7:41 AM

Georged: If you dont like Buffalo thats fine. This place isnt perfect and it isnt for everyone. Dont you think instead of complaining though youd be much happier moving away? Leave it for the people who actualy like it here.

As far as the vacant parking lots in the cobblestone district, Ive always felt it would be nice to build a few mixed use structures resembling the Elk Terminal or the Buffalo-Niagara food terminal @ Clinton-Bailey. These mock warehouses would not be as interesting as the real deal but they would blend in well with the rest of the neighbrhood.

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funkybones

February 21, 2009 2:21 PM

Great. I knew in general that prices around Buffalo were spectacular compared to plenty of other cities around the country just wasn't sure what type of price tag "new development" might bring with it.

Speaking of new development, does anyone else see the proposed Inner harbor development being a bit of a threat to, at least the charm, of the Cobblestone area? I know this is Buffalo, so a proposal and actual shovels in the ground end up being two VERY different things (although I do hope it happens) but the overall ascetic of the new development is starting to bother me based on it's location. I loved the idea of making it feel like an old-world, industrial area, seemed fitting at the time, but wouldn't it seem silly being built right next to the real McCoy of the Cobblestone District?

Of course, with the right care and attention it could work out beautifully (fingers crossed). I just wouldn't want to see an actual neighborhood that seems to be making positive steps be sidetracked, or even overlooked, because of a new take on what already makes it unique.

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mec

February 21, 2009 7:07 PM

I'm not sure what apartments Kimon is referring to because there are no decent apartments in the Cobblestone area let alone the DT area for under $800-$1200 a month.

Elk Street Terminal is the closest to Cobblestone and are priced around $850-$2000 a month. The next closest building to this area would be the Webb Lofts which are similarly priced from $800-$1400.

I believe the apartments that Kimon is referring to are either SPAM ads for apartments that don't actually exist, or the S-hole "Holling Place" apartments, which are income limited and built with cheap/terrible materials. They may only be around $600/month, and they are DT, but I know of three people that moved out within a month. They said it was like living in a crappy college dorm.

Your best bet is probably Allen/Elmwood area. While its not DT, there are much larger flats, with cheaper rents available. Trust me- I looked at 28 apartments Cobblestone, DT, Elmwood, Allen, Pearl St., Delaware, until I settled on a place near Bidwell.
I even looked at 2 places in the "West Village" which is near Hutch Tech, and while there are some cheaper places on streets like Whitney Place, its still a little too seedy for me...

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Kimon

February 22, 2009 12:14 PM

These were the apartments I had in mind:

http://buffalo.craigslist.org/apa/1041382895.html
http://buffalo.craigslist.org/apa/1040203369.html
http://buffalo.craigslist.org/apa/1011101992.html

They look legitimate to me; not crappy places either.

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Kimon

February 22, 2009 12:15 PM

For some reason BRO isn't letting me respond. WTF?

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Joshua

February 21, 2009 2:51 PM

This is exciting, one entire block of the cobblestone district is fully occupied. Now on to the next block.

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Sean Brodfuehrer

February 21, 2009 11:30 PM

"This is exciting, one entire block of the cobblestone district is fully occupied. Now on to the next block"

ohh wait.. the next block was torn down and nothing let to renovate... It's basically is land use lock down. It will take a fight and some serious political will to wretch those parking lots out of the HSBC's control. The cobblestone has unfortunately just about reached its peak. Anything new will require new construction... and that is way to expensive and risky compared to renovating these old buildings.

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Joshua

February 22, 2009 11:28 AM

sbrof - Quite possibly you need to look at the positive work that is going on right now. Yes, negatively there were many building that were demolished and the land became parking lots - I am aware of that, dude. The block I was referring to was on Illinois St. Since the one side of Mississippi St is filled with businesses there should be a precedent to start working on buildings on Illinois St.

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Sean Brodfuehrer

February 22, 2009 2:28 PM

I do agree that all of these developments are very positive. My comment was to those people who see vacant buildings are nothing more than eyesoars is need of a wrecking ball. Truth is without a building stock of cheap and unique architecture, Buffalo's chances of redevelopment as limited as the the next big parking lot. The urban design collapses and the vibrancy dies.

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TimMD

February 22, 2009 12:13 AM

Why no picture of what it looks like now from the outside?

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elias

February 22, 2009 9:34 AM

those vacant parking lots will probably remain vacant for some time. for one, it is vital for the hsbc arena visitors. now, an alternative would be to build a ramp (yeah, i know how much we love the thought of another ramp going up in the downtown core...) on the other side of perry street to replace the lost parking space, construct these terminal style structures on the current lots, and imagine a viable and vibrant district, a real cobblestone district, not just a 1 block district with cobblestoned access to parking lots. tie that in with the canal project, (don't worry, pitbull, i won't use the c word) and there is the making of a real bona fide livable neighborhood/visitors destination. convincing investors and politicians, well, thats the tricky part...

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sonyactivision

February 22, 2009 11:17 AM

The Cobblestone District, such as it is, might someday be a "liveable neighborhood" but most of these featured improvements are commercial properties that are leased out to bars, developers, agencies and a certain new media organization. Liveability implies a lot of things that aren't in place here. Shops, cafes, parks, and better access to transit would need to come to the Cobblestone but more than that, residential density would have to happen. That's a big leap and so many ideas I've heard for this area are anything but residential.

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Armchair MBA

February 22, 2009 6:44 PM

Now you're talking!

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Kimon

February 22, 2009 12:31 PM

I guess the site won't let me publish links for some reason. I was going to list the apartments I was talking about, but I can't. Is there any way to send members messages?

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Andrew

February 22, 2009 1:43 PM

Its the small projects like this one that are really turning this city around one building at a time

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whatever

February 23, 2009 9:29 PM

Shouldn't say this because some of you will tell me to shut up and move away (seems to be the mantra talking point here lately), but here goes anyhow.

The city isn't turning around one building at a time. Some buildings are turning around, mostly in pockets of the city this blog usually focuses on. That's great. While that happens, many more buildings go the other direction if one looks at the whole city. There's nothing wrong with highlighting the positive. Saying the city is turning around goes way too far.

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hamp

February 22, 2009 2:00 PM

We can learn a lot from the Cobblestone District.
It shows what people can do, when they put their mind and hard work to it.

The Cobblestone District would not exist if it were not for the people that turned out to actually save and re-lay the "cobble" stones that the city had ripped up.

The effort was lead by Tim Tielman and included dozens of people that believed in the great things that could happen if this area was saved.

Believe.

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