Canal Side seeks to create a setting for year-round, family-oriented sports, entertainment, cultural and recreational usages. The main attraction will be a series of water features, event spaces and the development's anchor, Bass Pro. All of these components are shown in a project fly-through produced by the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation team.
Canal Side Video here. (Note, large file, may load slowly)
Bass Pro has been designed to resemble a canal-era warehouse. The store would include 130,000 square feet of development space, with 121,000 square feet of retail space and 9,000 square feet of restaurant space above a three-level, 532-space parking garage. The building would be 160 feet high at its highest point, the tallest in the Canal Side project, with distinctive signage, and peaked roofs.
Pedestrians would be able to enter the Bass Pro store either through the primary entrance on the East Canal or from an entrance off Main Street. In addition, there would be a link to the store through a Water Tube that would pass through the West Canal and to the Canal Side Hall.
In front of Bass Pro would be street-level water features interpreting the alignment of the Erie Canal and Commercial Slip. The water features at Canal Side would consist of a street-level canal system and a freshwater aquarium.
Towpaths along the canals will be for pedestrian use, and will be lined with restaurants and shops, connecting to the many different levels of public and retail environments. There will be dramatic views and places for relaxing or people watching, as well as opportunities for recreation, cultural immersion, dining and special events. In the winter the public canals will become a larger central community space dominated by skating rinks, heated canopies, fireplaces, and warming huts.
Across from Bass Pro and the canal, a 20,000 sq.ft. cultural facility, likely a children's museum, would be built at grade with Pearl and Scott streets. Canal Side Hall, a 23,000 sq.ft. public market (above), would be built slightly below grade at the intersection of Pearl Street and Marine Drive. Canal Side Hall will be topped by a large public events space known as Canal Side Commons.
The Winter Garden would be a three-story, 50,000 sq.ft. facility that would house retail and restaurant uses. An arcade over a section of the Prime Slip north of Marine Drive would create an indoor atrium that would protect visitors from the seasonal climate changes and would include a Prime Slip water feature.
Wow! The fly-through looks terrific.