HSBC Rumor: Cobblestone Bound

This would be so dumb. I think it is safe to assume that HSBC is in the middle of re-negotiating a lease in the tower and wants to put pressure on the owner. I would rather stare at that parking lot than to see them build another awful replica of the crystal palace.

On the positive side, an empty 38 story building will have to crash rents in order to fill all that space which could attract an out of town employer to Buffalo or bring some suburban businesses into the city.

None of us will get much of a say if HSBC decides to build so Im not going to sweat it. Lets just hope they stay downtown and that some of their better designs elsewhere in the world are brought here.

(omg, the insanity of those thruway access ramps for the Elm-Oak Arteriole...look how many city blocks they consume)

$20 says if this rumor is indeed true, the design proposal will cause an outrage on BRO... Keepin my fingers crossed for a chic new glass tower! (even though the current HSBC tower will then become the Statler part deux)

That parcel is large enough for a mid-rise campus to satisfy HSBC's needs. Kinda disappointing but indicative of a business culture that eschews tall buildings in favor of corporate campuses. And it's high time the tower got a complete makeover...

shame if they moved here, this was one of the few areas in downtown that could fit a modern convention \ hotel package without destroying any historic buildings \ roads \ neighborhoods to do it. And would be close to the highway for visitors to see and find from out of town.

I guess we will see what happens.

I am not too concerned with the quality of building that HSBC would probably build. They have a decent track record of building some great new buildings that are state of the art, environmentally friendly, and LEED certified. It would be great to have a new building like this in Buffalo.

http://www.buildings.com/ArticleDetails/tabid/3321/ArticleID/8352/Default.aspx

It would nice to see a 20+ floor glass tower attached to the back of Atrium building, what I'd hate to see is another campus/suburban style Blue Cross building.
If the Seneca One tower were to renovate, clean exterior, lower rents, aggressive advertising, it will survive.

I say do it! If they are going to build a signature tower I say let them! If the lease expires in 2013 then I will assume that we will hear something very soon as to their decision because that would give them roughly 2 1/2 years to plan and get the tower built.

Maybe then Seneca One will upgrade the tower, re-skin the exterior and modernize the interior. Making some of the top floors deluxe condos would be a great selling point especially to Bills/Sabres players.

I agree. The building is such an eyesore that forced revitalization would likely end up being a positive. I'm not sure about injecting more "deluxe" condos (thank god for the Avant), but there are VERY few mid/mid-high end condo units available downtown and I definitely think there would be a market for them (at least I'd be interested in buying one). Of course the waterfront could also satiate that need...though I assume all residential units will just be rentals :( Why does no one understand that of course there will be transient 20somethings so long as there's only transient housing in downtown??

Everything and anything new is almost always complained about on here. I've been on this site for many years now and there are so many architectrural critics here that you would think no structure built within the last 30 years or next 30 years is worthy of some praise. Its actually disgusting to read it all the time and in a way furthers the Buffalo negativity that has helped bring the city down. Architecture represents era's snapshots in time. Though some may be more appealing than opthers I firmly believe there is value in having representations of those different era's as they are signs of the evolution of an urban space over time and representations of continued interest and commit to build in the place over time. HSBC Tower sucks, HSBC Atrium sucks....i'm sick of the constant ridiculousness.

Tear down that giant waffle of a building. Main street looked alot better before it went up. I'd rather see two smaller buildings in it's place. Also, with all the empty space in Buffalo why was there a need to build this thing over a street?

more vertical sprawl...

Excellent news - HSBC is clearly most likely staying downtown, keeping thousands of employees here, and potentially getting rid of acres surface lots. It will force a refurbishment of the existing HSBC tower. As for the convention center issue and that as a potential appropriate site, do we really think that the convention center will happen in the next 10 years? I am sure there are other appropriate sites around the downtown finges, especially in light of the fact that downtown is spreading towards the Larkin District, and a Light Rail extesion could connect it all.

Now, lets hope the design is up to snuff....

Hmm....Buffalo City Tower would like might fine right there. As its been said i wonder if HSBC vacating the tower would spur a bg makeover. It would be cool to see some new skin, a higher end hotel, and some cool condo spaces. This all may be pipe dreams though............

I like the HSBC tower as it is, it just needs a good cleaning and some retail on the street. I also like the proposal to build a new smaller building on the same block to house HSBC which gives the center the density it needs and keeps the workers closer to the core of downtown instead of the perimeter where it's too tempting to never venture out except to your car (like the Blue Cross center). But going behind the atrium would give the Cobblestone district a real boost during the week instead of only when there's a game at the arena.

Well after reading the article in the Buffalo News - it looks like if they build in the Cobblestone district it is going to be a campus style complex.

What the hell is it with Buffalo and everything being suburban style crap? Heath Now and now HSBC. It is ridiculous.

Everyone is commenting on a new tower. Its very unlikely. Their also commenting on a suburban campus type building which I is more 50/50.

This is just speculation but the really large floor plates of the Larkin Warehouse have proven to be a huge success. Looking at the HSBC Parking lots...it reminds me a great deal of the footprint of the Larkin Warehouse.

The expansion proposed at the existing Tower was also to allow large footprint office space.

My guess is that HSBC leave the tower in total or in some fraction...and that a large footprint Larkin type building (with a LEEDS modern facade) will get erected. Here is the kicker prediction: HSBC leaving the tower will crash rents and those lower rents will pull more jobs out of other more expensive cities to Buffalo and eventually refill the tower.

It would be interesting for the bank to build a twin structure in the model of "dancing penises" previously located on Elmwood. A tribute to the past with a progressive nod to the future, assuming Leeds, curbed, farmed, cycle boy, local, organic, no parking, and privately funded with full dictation by arm chairs on BR.

Fact: HSBC is currently in talks with a local developer about a campus-like sprawled out LEED certified building(s) where their current parking lot is next to the atrium. Like the article once said, they want larger plates to eliminate time spent in elevators/stairs, needing multiple mail people etc.

If this all goes through, IMO Senca One should make the much needed upgrades and makeover to attract businesses (after both HSBC and Phillips Lytle move out) and target our suburban dwellers Geico and Yahoo!