Let's recap. Former councilman turned developer James Pitts and Specialty Restaurants proposed a Wingate hotel for the waterfront. In its first form, it met the criteria put forth by the city, but it was thought to be suburban looking, drab and way too commercial and cookie-cutter for a spot of honor on the buffalo waterfront. A Buffalo developer, Ciminelli Construction came in with a 10-story glass structure with a concrete base. The board dismissed it due to the fact that it exceeded the height requirement.
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Pitts hired architect and urban planner Bernard Zyscovich and went back to the drawing board. The assignment he was given was to come up with a design that would respect the area, Buffalo's history, Buffalo's future, and again, would top out at 4 stories.
Pitts then submitted to a special council meeting called by Councilman Mickey Kearns and attended by 3 other council members. The redesign was reflective green brick, matte grey brick and glass.
Those who didn't like it said so loudly. Still, it fit the criteria (with a possible glitch in the subjective element), and it had the extra bonus of allowing for the reinstatement of Erie Street as it first appeared on the Queen City Hub, a street design implemented by Joseph Elliott. Preservationist groups were jazzed by this added forethought to reestablishment of the downtown city grid.
Ciminelli came to the meeting with the same 10-story design.
In an effort to please the board, Pitts, who held designated developer status throughout this process, abided by a request for different colors. Two weeks ago, he came in with the following color change.
Below is the rendering with the actual building materials:
At today's meeting, Pitts came in with yet another two color choices, as follows:
And finally, the one the board chose...
...using the following materials (with the exception that the grey will be much lighter):
Cynthia Schwartz was the only dissenting vote on the board today, and oddly enough, she and fellow board member Susan Curran Hoyt (absent today) were, according to Pitts, the board members who had asked for choices in the paler grey and beige range.
It seems counterintuitive that the two board members who steered the color choice from fab to drab would be the nay and the nill in the end of this process, but that's precisely what happened.
The mix of reflective and matte brick, with the stainless steel lettering on the building, the greenery in the planters, and the 2-story glass entry way seem to be a good choice in all seasons, whereas the beige and grey, in the dead of winter, are not likely to emit any sort of warmth to a frozen waterfront. As it stands now, Pitts has a contingency on coming in with a lighter colored grey brick sample and needs to talk wall cap lighting; other than that, he's good to go.
After the meeting I talked to Pitts about the color choices. While glad to be approved and moving forward, he was surprised by the colors too, and didn't hide the fact that they would not have been his choice. When asked if he'd go back in to talk color, he looked at Director of Land Use and Planning Bill Grillo, who said, "You're not on the docket, Jim. You want to wait another 2 weeks?"
Sure, there's that thing about "getting 'er done," but then there's that other thing - the one that says "do it right."
Still UGLY. It looks like it belongs on the campus of SUNY Fredonia.
We deserve better. Much better.