Canal Street not Canal Side: Now There's an Irresistible Destination!

I agree with this idea 100%. It was amazing to see so many families in downtown enjoying the Powder Keg Festival.. This idea, combining family friendly activies with Buffalo's rich history, instead of a hunting fishing store, is what this city needs!!

Canal Street in NOLA is vibrant? - Perhaps 50 years ago!

Have you been to New Orleans in the past 10 years? Blight, abandonment and crime would be adjectives that would more accurately describe NOLA's Canal Street. Are you confusing Canal with Magazine Street?

So, this article makes perfect sense. I agree that the city needs a Jane Jacobs approved center of mixed use, palimpsestic vibrance--but who’s going to make it and how long will it take?

We’re working with some momentum for the first time in a long while. I would rather something be developed as Canal Side to get business started than for one store or restaurant to fight for an audience while other entrepreneurs catch on. That pattern, although definitively more sustainable, is a slow and painful one.

Also, Canal Street in New York is disgusting. I live in Manhattan and I avoid that street like the plague.

Agreed Canal St in NYC is not a place I ever go. I don't think we should be going for the cheap gift shops with plastic fake sunglasses and bags.

A cultural destination is needed. Bass Pro is good, but at the end of the day is just a big box store.

Great Lakes Maritime Museum

Weather Museum - this was proposed a few years ago. I think this could be an international attraction. I love the idea. The study of different types of weather seasons, patterns, and events.

Even just an annex to the Albright Knox, Burchfield Penny, or the Historical Society.

Does anyone else remember the idea of a "Comeday Hall of Fame" for Downtown Buffalo? Last I heard (around 2001) was that it was approved and half way funded. What happend? That would (would of been) be a great addition to the waterfront.

Canal street in NYC is full of crappy knock-offs, street violence, and pick-pockets trying to rob tourists...let's go for THAT

This whole post is a throwaway

Canal Place, Canal Street - either way, vandals will be stealing the "C" off the sign on a regular basis.

Personally, I dont like it at all and the more that I see it the less that I like it.

Every story seems to reveal its flaws for examination rather than beat the drumbeat of excitement.

Whats wrong? Well the architects just have not escaped the post war architecture school that defines indoor malls and outdoor strip malls even if their in an urban environment.

Everytime I look at the design it seems inorganic, disjointed and of seemless design like the convention center and main place mall...its disconnected from downtown. Its a seemless tourist destination and as we know from places like MainPlace Mall when the tourist destination fades the entire project fails.

Look at the 1875-1925 picture. Look at how the individual multi-story (4+brick french pane windows) buildings allow for mixed use to flow from residential to office to commercial seemlessly.

Whats with Canalside Commons? What happened to Front Street boardwalk? Why wasnt that good enough?

This just seems like a 2010 version of Main Place Mall. This wont integrate with downtown, the waterfront village or DL&W. It lacks intimate spaces. I cant even see the cobblestone streets, the gas lamps, etc.

Completely wrong the more I look at it.

Prostitutes, brothels and seedy bars would bring more tourists. I vote we put them somewhere. A legal red light district, near downtown (maybe across the river) would really draw out of towners. Turn some of the old brownfields into a brothel district. Make it look historic. 'Buffalo Gals' playing on the player piano in the saloon downstairs, alcohol being served until 4am, a little gambling down the street. We could be a real 1890s kind of tourist trap. But that won't happen. So with regard to this proposal:

I like this idea in some important ways. We need a children's museum. I love history and this kind of theme could be a tourist draw. The opportunity to expose WNY kids to our own history, regardless of tourists, seems a natural at this site. I strongly the dislike Bass Pro development (unless it's strictly their money at stake, which of course it isn't). I'm pessimistic about their chances for profit. I expect we'll be stuck with an empty big box within the decade, paid for courtesy of the taxpayer. If that happens, it will be a downer for the psyche of the city. This is a better direction. Children's museums would seem to be financially self sustaining (at least based on the entrance fees and crowds I've encountered in other cities). But museums in general are money pits. In a way they're an extravagance. I wonder what the initial and maintenance costs for such a development would be. If it doesn't cost us much (say, similar to what's now on the table), I'd be all for this. Does anyone have numbers which are relevant? If it's cost effective, you've got my vote.

Alternatively, I'd like to see the city recreate the street grid and encourage the development of a new urban neighborhood. Put design parameters into place which encourage commercial first floors and residential upper floors (no higher than, say, four stories), split the land into smallish to medium sized lots and then sell same to the public. Watch it develop.

but hey the canals are there and the streets are there so as it fails the next iteration will treat it less like a theme park/mall and more like a mixed use waterfront destination.

I really like the idea of a museum downtown. But instead of a Children's museum, I would make it a Museum of Science, Industry and Technology, and I would make it really big. I would include a lot of the technologies intrinsic to Western New York and some new technologies being developed around the country (i.e. nanotechnology). Of course, UB and Roswell Park would be involved with this process. I would definitely include something about the electric power generated by Niagara Falls, for example explaining the workings and history of the Robert Moses Hydro-electric Generating plant. How about explaining how all these new wind turbines work? How about the electric power grid we always hear about (really, how the hell does that work)? The list of ideas is almost endless, and I'm sure it would draw a lot of families to downtown Buffalo on the weekend. The idea of such a museum isn't to make money, it is to entertain and provide a cultural experience for the citizens of WNY and the Northeastern United States (and also Canada). And then after visiting the museum you could go next door to Bass Pro and buy some fishing poles and worms.

Because of the fact that I live within walking distance I would love some retail that I can patronize on a regular basis, which will help sustain the shops during the winter months as well. In terms of a tourist draw I think a new science museum would be great, maybe one that rivals Toronto.

Perhaps a Buffalo music hall of fame with a concert venue attached as well as a permanent outdoor stage like at Lasalle Park.

Bike museum, weather museum, kids museum, comdey museum, industrial museum, etc, etc, etc. These will take a long time to grow and evolve until they become a true tourist draw. There are duplicate museums within a few hours drive, or less, for each of these categories. There are also sports museums (Hockey, boxing, football, baseball, etc) within a short drive from here. Why canibalize the other areas of our region to duplicate museums here.

We need an idea that brings in business and revenue. Where are the boat charters, the boat rentals, the diving shops? Where are the plans to build from the best in class from other successful cities? Have we analyzed other waterfront or riverfront developments and proposed these ideas here? I'd like to hear some of the better ideas and see if we can get backing from the residents and business community. Bass Pro is the only thing that is close to definite in the waterfront, and even that is still up in the air.

We lack guidance and leadership around the waterfront. There are a lot of ideas, but few viable concepts that will truly bring about change in the city and region. We say "we'll have retail", but no one is on board yet. We will have restaurants, but not one is signed to build here. We will have destinations, but nothing that isn't easy to implement and relatively low risk to the investors.

We are too often halfway pregnant with this entire Canalside project, from the beginning three decades ago through today. We need more than a 3-D mock-up and a website, we need leadership.

Great Lakes Maritime Center? How about the Buffalo Maritime Center - it already exists, and coincidently recently lost its lease with NFTA and is looking for space:

http://buffalomaritimecenter.org/

This would be wonderful! Thanks for the great ideas! Let's make it happen people! I can't wait to move to Buffalo from New York City (so sick of NYC! I miss Buffalo!) and somehow get involved in rebuilding the waterfront. I may have some connections ;)

I hope every Buffalonian realizes how good they actually have it over there.

"Dwelling on the negative simply contributes to it's power."

I would prefer simple canals, as in Amsterdam's canals. But Canal Side works fine for me too.

I’m sorry but museums are not destinations in commercial districts: if we make Canaside a museum, we’ll be slating it to years of seasonal visitorship and near desertion in the weekday. How many people actually care to go and look at exhibits? How many people have enough interest in reading or watching educational material?

I would wager that the audience for that kind of space-use is limited and because we’re all on Buffalo Rising, reading, we’ve got a tendency to assume most people are like us.

Well, I fear that in Buffalo the majority of attention of the public doesn’t go anywhere near museums, galleries, or boat charters. Unfortunately I don’t have figures to present, but combined shopping and dining draws people sustainably in our area. The Walden Galleria just completed a huge upgrade that could easily be compared to the type of development people in the area enjoy. (Do not assume I like or even support large big-box developments.)

A small cultural center would be great, true...but don’t we already have one of those there, across the canal?