Construction Watch: Donovan Building Stripping Down

Thank God. This might be the best news of the year right up there with the Lafayette restoration. And almost as good as finding out from a friend this morning there's a website called [deleted].com. But that's still better news.

I like the above photos - but where does the 2 story parking garage fit it?
Also- we have a great hockey tourney coming in sept. and once again all of this progress wont even be closed to finished - Canals havent been started, fences still line the other side of the rail line - and the Donovan building will look like a dead zone...

I'm just happy to see visible work going here so at least visitors won't look at this place as another vacant ugly building. Now it gives the perception that this part of town is growing instead of being abandoned. Hopefully we will see the canal work start soon too adding to that positive vibe.

Excellent! Dinosaur BBQ was scouting locations in Buffalo. I'd love for them to take up some of the first floor space in this building.

This building looks better "de-skinned". How did such a bad design ever get approved when they first built this thing? You know, because checkered buildings were such a huge architectural movement. VERY excited for the future of Lower Main St.

great, now get rid of Surrogates Court and restore the historic Erie County Building which I think houses records. Olmsted planned that building for the entire city block.

Heck, City Hall is Half empty move them in there or move the County into City Hall and move records into the County Building.

and while your at it....that circular skyway access ramp that consumes an entire city block between Franklin, Swan, Seneca...etc....get rid of it. We have the Tifft Street bypass and the Erie Street access...we dont need it. Its far more detrimental to downtown than helpful.

It'd be nice to see the new rendering that was promised. I wish they would go back to the original plan of building a ground floor addition out to Main Street with street-facing retail space.

Kind of lousy to see the first development at Canalside disregard the Canalside design guidelines.

Lately, I've been cringing every time I drive down I-190 and see that building. This renovation cannot come soon enough. It's gonna be a nice addition to our mini-skyline.

It would be too cool to have the HSBC tower striped and covered in glass like the Avant. We would have a modern hot looking downtown while going through on the 190 :)

It would be too cool to have the HSBC tower striped and covered in glass like the Avant. We would have a modern hot looking downtown while going through on the 190 :)

I know I'm in the minority here, and this comment will probably break a record for the most thumbs down votes ever on this site. But I am sad to see the Donovan Building being dismantled. I love mid century design, and although this building has looked like hell for several years (decades), it would have been interesting to see what would it would have looked like if they had cleaned it up and refurbished/restored it. It's easy to judge harshly when you're looking at pictures of a building that hasn't been properly maintained for at least half of its life. (Though it hasn't been vacant that long, it was never really cared for since my earliest memories of it in the 1980s.) Are there any pictures of it from when it was new? In the interest of creating urban density and architectural diversity, it would have been better--in my opinion--to see Phillips Lytle construct there own new building on one of the many nearby vacant lots. This could have been made into a mid century hotel, which could have been awesome. I see a missed chance here.

Interesting to see that the original architects spent a lot of money to push the columns back away form the skin and these new architects are going to spend a lot of money pretending that the columns are at the outer edge of the building. If it were me I would have taken advantage of those cantilevered slabs.

Glad to see work finally starting on this. Although it's going from a 1950's design that I never thought was that bad actually, to a 1990's design which is OK I guess. Maybe the new secret rendering has a very different look.

I think the most important part of the redevelopment though is what they do on the first floor or two. Get rid of the open plaza and build it out.

Agreed. The relatively decent mid-century design could be reused to create something cool with some vision and some cleanup. Redoing it in an already-dated faux-historicist style doesn't really improve the look of the building.

But, the act of reskinning it screams "Change! Development!" Getting people driving by on the 190 to realize that downtown might be worth visiting or revisiting is undoubtedly a good thing.

Of course, if there wasn't a 190 to fly past it on at 65 miles per hour, that would be the ideal. But, one step at a time...

Ah the love-hate relationship I have with you Buffalo....

How about a view of the other side?

Plans call for a parking garage?

A parking garage makes sense I suppose but it seems to have been left out of prior announcements and renderings. (mmm?)

JM's link above gives some insight about the canal building designs. It sounds like the period styling is not really mandatory at all :

"The canal project is part of a trend of reclaiming waterfronts across the country,” said Hilary Bertsch of EE&K, a Perkins Eastman company, who is overseeing the design. ..... Renderings show a dense mix of traditional styles that echo the architecture of the lost mid-19th century neighborhood. “We’re still looking at this as an early concept,” said Bertsch. “Paying tribute to the site’s history is important, but we can’t lose sight of today’s realities.” While the canal design is complete, the architecture that surrounds it is evolving and could offer a more modern aesthetic."

Canal side!

It is a new investment and ideally it should be able to contextualize the importance of the erie canal. However what is most important for me is recapturing a new place in history with the landmass that we have. There is technically a whole plenitude of social relation's that could be developed because of a viable and visionary plan. Is it possible to claim that we have modernized the harbor with the skyway still there.

Ultimately, buffalo should have the potential to be more inviting because we are a summer destination close to Niagara Falls.

I'd love to see a plan that connects the inner and outer harbor. Something that improves that connecting aesthetic enough to spur change.

Not that i am totally for removing the skyway. demolishing of the skyway or new peace bridge, might make a good poll.