Donovan Make-Over: More Images

The new photos reinforce the concerns many of us have with the building's design at street level.

The Canal district is supposed to foster an active street life. This is especially important on lower Main Street.
You can see in the renderings that the setback creates a dead space in front of the building that is more reminiscent of suburban buildings than urban. The stretch of land in front of the building will be unused and lifeless. The last thing we need down there.

The parking lot and back entrance means that hotel and office workers will not use the Main Street entrance, further relegating what could have been a vibrant entrance, to a dead zone.

It's really disappointing that ECDC did not follow its own rules for the first major Canalside building. Extending the first few floors to Main Street would not have been difficult or wildly expensive.

Finally, the post says no other developer was interested in the Donovan. I've heard this said before, but I find it hard to believe. ECDC seems to have gone overboard to accommodate Benderson. Too bad, because the results fall short of what we need if Canalside is going to be a success.

Imagine how cool and suburbia everything will be at the Outer Harbor when ECHDC/Benderson is done developing it.

corner sites are too important to squander on parking.

Just tack on a third level to the parking deck and convert the first floor to retail/ restarant spaces along Washington. The hanging garden effect is nice off say a hypothetical third and second floor but as a design feature as proposed is just a green wall along Washington. Seems the stretch from FN Center to the 190 could be a walkable destination. Otherwise I like the design and look forward to seeing it completed. I like the building, like the Main Street side and the plaza that so many bellyache about. It seems a good space/ apron between the building and the canalway shown. Also, hope to see that second series of 3, 4 story buildings go in on the otherside of that canal.

On the other hand , The setback allows for a generous level outdoor cafe seating area and compensates for the slope on main street at this point.

You Negative Nancies are out of your mind. This building has been left for dead and is finally being brought back -- mind you, with a MUCH nicer look than before -- with a functional use that includes public use. This building went from uninspiring office space and is now being fit as a mix-use. Yeah, I get it; you wish it was built to the curb, like a "real city." Well, hate to break it to everyone, but...IT NEVER WAS. Embrace the change or live forever in the past.

The surface parking along Washington is dissapointing and the parking structure along Scott blocks southfacing front of the building as well as creating a blank wall along Scott street facing the Webster block. The renovation is a net gain but adds little to our biggest urban design issue...curb appeal and creating a lively streetscape.

Where is it you would like guests of the hotel to park, at the Buffalo News? Behind the arena? Under the thruway? On the Skyway? It's a hotel for god's sake -- of course it has parking. Keep in mind, this thing isn't a new-build, so underground parking and such simply isn't a reasonable option. It's a fine addition to a longstanding lifeless part of town.

With the parking structure being built to the curb on Washington, it looks like a continuation of the feeling of Washington Street being a service or access street to the building on Main. Disappointing.

Not having a retractable roof is a wasted opportunity; this is the saddest day in Buffalo's history; my guess is a Catholic designed it.

I just can't believe they put the vehicular drop-off on the canal. How absurd! Especially when there is parking on Washington, why they couldn't put it there?

And if you notice, they remove a portion of the canal for the drive. And the drive by the way, so that you don't notice it, is shown in the same graphic as the rest of the plaza. Why even bother with the canal??

Furthermore, while i would love to see the building built out to the public sidewalk and canal frontage, I could see value in have cafe/retail terraces, if in fact they had a decent association with retail. However if you look at the plan the relationship between retail space and exterior space is very weak - the retail/ restaurant space should open to the plaza in a meaningful way...as is you hardly notice it is there. Secondly they leave high walls between the public sidewalks and the terraces with only a couple breaks. Then they throw in some pergolas as if somehow that was a design solution..to what?

There is very little effort to make the public space work. Public space just like interior building space needs program, needs purpose. It needs clarity and boundary and it needs to create strong relationships between uses. I do not see any purpose to the exterior spaces...just a hodge-podge knee jerk response to criticism.

FTheRedTape : People don't have cars that's ridiculous. lol

All : The plan looks great. It was a junky old building with a bunch of not a whole lot in it.

Now it looks like a great building with a hotel/restaurant top tier offices and what looks like a very nice patio eating area with outdoor food/bar.

I can't wait to soak it up in those hot tubs on the canal.

On every Donovan article, you need to post a photo of what the building looked like prior to this renovation. Perhaps that will quiet the doubters, whiners and complainers, who are never satisfied with anything.

They also tend to not be happy with ANYTHING new that is proposed. If its not 100 years old its crap, right? At a point the constant bashing of everything that comes in becomes tiring and others tend to tune out. Yes, there are legitimate points but everything these days gets to the point of outrage just like modern day politics. Its either all or nothing and then dig your heels in. We're always searching for the perfect design. I myself feel a bit more can and should be done on the Washington Street side, however to just bash the thing as an utter failure, make comparisons to the HSBC Plaza, throw it under the "suburban" umbrella that many here like to extend to anything and everything they dont like is offensive and disturbing. You're not making any friends in the burbs by constantly bashing them and at this point in time there are many more out there than in the city. Does perfect design exist? If everything was "perfect" wouldt it all be the same? Perfection tends to be in the eye of the beholder as well. Certainly there are design no no's and ideally society has learned the pitfalls but when it gets to the point where a good project gets demonized to a point where it seems the outraged would rather have nothing over whats actually being constructed then I wonder what progress really is?

I am one of the dissapointed that speak of flyguy, but if you read my comments again I start by saying it is net gain, however could have been better. The best cities have strict design guidlines that when enforced create sense of place...where people want to be. It's fine, just missed a great opportunity thats all, add it to the list.

So when do they start enforcing the design guidelines? When Walgreens wants to move in? ECHDC is such a useless organization.

I like how the last picture has a picture of the canal and possible edge of the Children's Experience across from it. As to other complaints above, this project is great. ECHDC has managed to bring together good tenants and a fantastic design. Yor just nit picking the tiny details.

People here complain about the design-enforcer types... but if this city would just allow ONE new neighborhood to be developed with real urban design and planning, people would see how good it *could* be. Instead everything is always done half-assed to guarantee some amount of failure down the road.

At the very least, everyone should be asking why we're paying millions of dollars for studies, design guidelines, and master plans, when they only get ignored as soon as the first developer doesn't feel like following them. Instead of brushing aside these design issues and rationalizing that "at least it's better than it was before", you should be demanding your money's worth from the expert master plans we all paid top dollar for.

On another note, I'm a little concerned that the General Contractor of choice is from out of town.

"Clark Construction Group, LLC, the nation's largest privately-held construction company, is the general contractor."

Believe it or not our area has a lot more construction going on vs. other areas of the country and we are already seeing outsiders coming in for large projects that have recently started in Batavia and Niagara Falls. Part of the byproduct of these projects is to create jobs locally in the construction sector.

I really hope local work is utilized and I hope that the authenticity of what we want as a community stands up to cheaper cost pressures.

Let’s build this to higher architect and workmanship standards so it stands the test of time much like many of the great buildings we are renovating and are rediscovering as the great assets our city has.

If this area is supposed to be a true destination for locals and tourists then it must include much better design. Why would someone come to Buffalo to experience Canalside if the buildings look like this. What is unique about it? How does this generate excitement?

To say that this building is better than the derelict Donovan is true but it sets a very low bar. When the next mediocre building is built and applauded by some because it's better than a hole in the ground, will that encourage tourists to visit the waterfront? Hey, come to Buffalo: it's better than a hole in the ground!

Buffalo must change negative perceptions and buildings like this won't do it.

The only negative I see is the drop off area for the hotel, but even that isn't terrible. It makes the main entrance facing the canal which automatically generates activity. Also, it's at the end of the line for the canal so it's not nearly as impacting as some suggest.

As for the plaza in front, throw a Five Guys and a small bar in at the lower level and I guarantee that plaza will never be an empty dead space, especially with room for outdoor seeting. This initial design reminds me a lot of how the canal space is laid out in Frederick, MD. Quite similar in that the canal is not at grade and you have to go up stairs to access stores and restaurants. I'd say that area wasn't packed or a hive of activity, but the street network in that section of Frederick is quite different in terms of much longer blocks with the backside facing the canal (and it's also Frederick which is a much smaller city).

The irony that we have $40MM for a soulless building like this, while we tear down the Bethlehem Admin. Building. Makes me want to cry.

And here we go with the usual New Urbanist Whine patrol who never fail to denigrate anything that actually gets done in Buffalo. Maybe they need another reminder of what the Donovan Building looked like and how well it "integrated with the urban fabric" a year ago. Sure, the Canal Side area could have been "the next Vieux Carre". But it won't be. This is Buffalo. Be thankful some con artist like John Rigas didn't swing by promising the moon and leave behind another vacant lot.

The renderings look awesome of the building! Hoping canalside will become even better that Bricktown in OKC. I also hope that Canalside development will spill out onto South Park Ave and along Illinois Street around the arena. South Park Ave leading up to the arena is an embarrassment. They need to have better and newer lighting fixtures and add some banners and interesting signage lining the street. Would be great if Pegula stepped up and built some statues, monuments around the arena as well. Check out the website for Oklahoma City's Bricktown. The leadership should at least get some inspiration for what they want to be develop on our Waterfront and Canalside/ Arena/ Cobblestone district. It is a shame it has taken over 10 years and going to have anything exciting developed yet here. I think a fountain would be a gathering point and help beautify this district. I also recall reading something about a Solar powered carousel being an attraction down in this district. http://www.bricktownokc.com/

If you're going to comment about "what was there before" or "this being better than nothing," at least know your history. THIS is what was there before, until someone settled for the Donovan Building instead.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/319446_10150293143709306_505734305_7623005_4821594_n.jpg

Their poor decision to settle for the Donovan meant we got stuck with an ugly dead building for a generation. And now instead of demanding more quality the next time around, we'll reinforce the design and get stuck with it again. Some people never learn.