The Main Place 'Mall': Lost in Time

The problem is the owner, when you spend all of your time preventing other developers from building on parking lots it doesn't leave much time to lure new tenants in.

Idea for the Main Place Mall: Move the Downtown Farmers Market indoors in winter months. Products like potatoes, apples, preserved canned goods, herbs, baked goods can be sold year round.

Main Place never should have been constructed in the first place. It is an absolute crying shame they demolished the unbeleivable Erie County Savings Bank in the 60s to build this monstrosity.

The Main Place Mall has been in preparation for the Zombie Apocalypse for years now.

Its a shame they every built this monstrosity. They tore down the incredible Erie County Savings Bank to build this garbage. A damn shame

New convention center within this massive footprint. I believe is larger than existing convention center so would address that identified need while opening up the land for the existing convention center for something else. Seems that section of downtown has been primed for new buildings anyway with Avant and New Era, the Niagara Center Bldg, the one on Delaware with M&T offices and whatever is going on with that new hotel at Delaware and Chippewa w/ Uniland. Main exhibit floor in Main Place space on second level- close in the open space with wall to wall floor. Redo the mall facade completely along both Main and Pearl Streets. Open up a hole underneath the main exhibit floor and re-establish Eagle Street, giving it enough space for bike/ ped and vehicular traffic with a reserved pick-up drop off lane for convention traffic including tour buses and taxis, etc. All would be covered underneath the exhibit floor, a winter time benefit. New location would be complemented nicely by the civic space nearby in Lafayette Square, the Lafayette Hotel, Hilton at the Tishman Bldg. and immediate access to light rail along Main Street.

This is a tough one. Retail is moving online. The only retail that I think will survive are:
-Some high-end clothing stores
-Home repair
-Drug stores
-Groceries (including farmers' markets)

Can you fill the mall with this?

Oh yeah...and move the food court vendors down to the first floor to avoid the necessity to use the escalators and be so self contained. Allow for more first floor walk in access that way and take advantage of the covered entry if eagle was punched through. In order to reduce the impact of a hard structure creating a tunnel effect and blocking the view of the reborn eagle street corridor is the old Niagara Falls wnitergarden structure still kicking around anywhere? I thought that was being disasembled and re-used? If its still available might be a cool transparent structure with towering glass walls rising above eagle street and offering one heck of an added view to the sky on the convention floor. Would also get rid of some of the Main Place mall low rise monotony downtown along Main. Basically cut and paste the wintergarden structure into a section of the Main Place at Eagle Street.

There's already 2 drug stores w/in a block and they like visibility so burying it in the mall is a no go

Something needs to be done at the Main Place Mall! I recently heard of out of towners staying at the Hyatt who were thrilled to find out that there was a "mall" just blocks away... boy were they disappointed. I cringed when I heard that.

If we're a game of playing fantasy development pipe-dreams... Less the tower, this building should be bulldozed and the land should be bid to any developer willing to build new, more urban-like structures that actually offer some type of functionality.

Dynamite seems like a good option.

Clad in glass + install Wegmans = pathway to prosperity. Period.

Put a Tiffany's & Co or Whole Foods in ... and they will come.

People might be interested to know that Hamilton has the same kind of downtown mall - Jackson Square - a looming, street unfriendly fortress that has cut itself off from streetscapes and street life. An exterior that is bland and stark, blank and uninviting.

However, the mall has just announced that a large 55,000 square foot supermarket is moving into the mall and will be opening in spring of next year. Ocean's supermarket will be the largest store in this small chain based out of Mississauga (which is just outside of Toronto). Here's the news story:

http://www.cbc.ca/hamilton/news/story/2012/08/16/hamilton-grocery-stores.html

Buffalo can take a lesson from this. A supermarket CAN be built into Main Place Mall.

I'll admit the ground 3 floors are not welcoming, but it is still a great piece of modern architecture. I wish people would stop thinking the only solution is to rip things down. Embrace the fact that there are great structures from all era's downtown and that that is part of what makes a neighborhood interesting. If you want MGM version of Main street go to Disney...

I agree a supermarket is part of the answer, look at the Whole Foods in the Time Warner building on Columbus Circle in NYC. But its not the full answer.

What about Traders Joes would they be interested in going there ?

About as nice as another "modern" building we know - the Donovan. Likewise, Main Place needs a complete makeover, including reopening the streets its construction obliterated.

Knock it down and replace with a grassy mall, sculpture garden, small stage or two, picnic tables, bocce court, food carts/trucks and best of all, shovel ready.

the owner should and is doing what they want with it period.why are all you dreamers worried about this place ? they pay more in property taxs than all of you people combined !!!go back to dreamland.

a relatively inexpensive solution is already at hand. turn what is left of the mall inside out. by that i mean close down the interior corridor and parcel it out to each tenant. in return for the extra floor space, they must orient their stores to main street and open up all of those entrances that are now blocked off. stores not fronting main street should be moved there.

in other words, convert it into an ordinary commercial storefront building and activate (or add street) entrances for each tenant.

then hang awnings, put out tables & chairs for the cafes. instant street life!

Your all dreaming if you think retail will make a comeback in the mall. Never going to happen. Pull it down and create a pocket park or open it up and park the food trucks in there for the winter.

It is actually a nice interior space. Wish it was like the Dubai mall.

I last spoke to the building management about 6 months ago. It's a tough go for any retailer with the amount of loitering and shoplifting. They build out the office space and the mall is secondary for them. I would like to see the farmers move inside in the winter. Too bad AM&A's across the tracks is not happening. Would have added much needed density for more potential mall options.

In 2005 ULI came to Rochester to take a look at ideas for Midtown Plaza, the closest Rochester analogy to Buffalo's Main Place. Their recommendations, while not followed entirely, were catalytic to kicking off the present redevelopment there (which unfortunately has been handled poorly by Rochester City Hall, but that's hardly ULI's fault).

But it costs around $100K to $150K (as I understand it) to have ULI come to town with their formal process. In the meantime, Buffalo now has a chapter of ULI Young Leaders. How about ULI YL organizing a charrette of their own to take a look at this--? I'd love to see what they come up with, and they might even show up the ULI Not-So-Young Leaders!

I called the Mall owner a couple weeks ago, and suggested to him that rather than ache over attracting multiple retailers, they should focus on a big-name retailer. Imagine how Target can set up a location that not only breathes life into Main Street's shopping district, but creates a unique design of the retailer that can't be found anywhere else?

Well, the owner told me for that to happen, a certain number of people, think several thousands, would have to be living within a certain proximity of the Mall.

I think current downtown housing projects are starting to address that issue. But then there's bringing traffic back to Main Street, which seems to be on indefinite hiatus. There's also the matter of bringing other RETAILERS, not office space or anymore hotels into surrounding buildings. In order to revive the Main Place Mall, focus should be given on ideas (shops, bowling, etc.) that will bring visitors downtown.

At the very least this building needs to have to street fronts become more attractive and inviting. We all would love to see bigger and better things but at least make it so its not as big an eye sore.

i say build a new tower right through the middle of it, between mainplace tower and the liberty, mixed use...office hotel and condos. until more people are living downtown, retail probably won't succeed.

Correct me if I'm wrong you bicycle riders..but isn't the Main Place parking lot under contract with BCAR for like 20 more years? There is no reason for the mall to be in the condition its in..aside from the owners not wanting to make the investment. If you have no where to park..your leases are going to be much lower. (you've got to pinch pennies)

These downtown property owners are going to have to start thinking creatively..I think the office market is going to be light for a couple more years and a new hotel is being built every 7 seconds in the City of Buffalo. They're going to have to start filling with something else..there is no reason with the Galleria only being in the condition its in (FANTASTIC!) that the City couldn't have a small mall to stop at on the way from the Peace Bridge. Make no mistake..the Galleria owes everything to the Canadian contingent. These are urban minded people..2 caveats... 1. great stores... 2. a place to park.

Buffaloanians love food..there is no reason the food court shouldn't be on the ground level as a pass through...toss in a bookstore here..giftstore there..you'll have to start with small stuff first. Move the farmers market inside. Take a walk down there in the afternoon there are a lot more people out and about than I expected..and please tell me there is no market for small to moderate levels of retail. Theres people everywhere..with nothing to do. Burning up their lunch breaks on coffee from a hotdog cart..with absolutely nothing to do but sit and look at the empty buildings.

The building is a turd... Its uninviting..you could have Victoria's secret models handing out bags of money..and Armani suits going for $1 and no one would know!! Theres no windows!!

Demolish it. Its not beautiful or historic. Build a new mall. Something modern, something that transforms for the seasons with both indoor and outdoor space. Build a modern parking structure(the current one makes me feel like my car is about to scrape the ceiling and walls) and/or more underground parking for it. The current mall, much like a crumbling obsolete grain elevator or a deathstar, wards off the general public instead of welcomes you to a part of town that is seeing so much new and exciting development.

A modern shopping mall in downtown will attract the same popular retail stores as the Galleria and our Canadian friends who jam the Galleria every week. Sprawling suburban Buffalo will still
support Walden Galleria but Buffalo City folk like me who hate driving out to the Galleria AND Canadian folks looking for a nice place to shop for their favorite brands will flock to the new/modern downtown fashion center that is just a minute away from the border crossing.

Despite the awesome developments at Canalside the average person with money to spend(suburban folk) is still not motivated to come to downtown. These people love safe pretty spaces to SPEND MO EY in their spare time and so they flock in droves to the Walden Galleria. If they see that a shiny new mall with a Tim Horton's, Forever 21, Victorias Secret, Gap, H & M, etc. with a nice parking structure is also part of the "new downtown" their hip urban friendly acquaintances keep bragging about they might actually come down and take part in the awesomeness we city loving folk are already enjoying.

You don't even need more people living IN downtown right now to make this type of space a success.

Oh and there is lots of space opening up at HSBC for displaced Mall Office tenants... Offices in a former shopping mall everyone knows is a repulsive eyesore is a nice placeholder but it's not a permanent solution for a prime "main street" location. I repeat. Demolish it.

I personally like the interior space and LOVE the food court- definitely one of the best in WNY, and is likely the busiest during midday lunch hour. Eventually it should be taken down to reopen part of our core street grid, but I can't say that without cringing with the food court in mind...maybe I'm crazy

This would be a perfect location for something similar to Seattle's Pikes Place Market (www.pikeplacemarket.org), or Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market (www.readingterminalmarket.org). These are ecletic markets that reflect the local culture and business sense that makes them unique. We have all the makings for something similar to these cities but all the retailers are spread out over the city. If the mall owners would work with local businesses to open secondary locations and have them all centralized in the mall it would be a huge success. And as far as the facade goes, I don' think that matters that much, Pikes Place and Reading Terminal are dank and dirty and they make a killing because of the diversity they offer. And screw trying to get high end retailers into the city, have them stay in the suburbs; I'm not going to tiffanys or true religon once/twice a week with my family; I'm going to five points bakery, lexington co-op, globe market, village beer merchant, etc. If Main place won't do it/can't see it someone in this city with vision will. Cheers.

A great REUSE project that took place in Reading, PA (60 miles from Philly) in an old abandoned goggle factory was a redeveloped ART CENTER called "GOGGLEWORKS". They reused a huge factory building and created art studios which are individually leased by each artist, an art class area for community art interests and live-in apartments. The success was so great that they just built a new, 6 story apartment complex next to the factory aimed at drawing artists to this part of the city. Check out the site: www.goggleworks.org.

Main Place mall would be perfect for this type of reuse and it would be diversity to this area of the city.

what gives you dreamers the right to tell this building owner what to do with HIS property ??? why dont you all pool your money together and buy it ? oh thats right ,$ 348.00 probably isnt enough !!!go back to the couch.

Zam! The Main Place Mall is an embarrassment to Buffalo – especially with its prime location in the heart of downtown.

The outer space showcases the owners lack of concern and ditto for the sorrowful inside.

It has been reported that more than 50,000 people work downtown, Monday through Friday. Certainly, there are a substantial number of potential customers in that group IF there are desired offerings.

It probably doesn’t need to be concentrated in high-end retail. However, the Lafayette Hotel’s wedding clientele, upcoming hotels’ guests and new, upscale apartment dwellers might spur some business in that realm.

There should be unique shops and common ones (ex. hats) – not junk stores. (Understandably, it can’t compete with suburban malls.)

Pathetically, visitors staying in downtown hotels are out of luck if they go to Main Place for forgotten essentials which the Dollar Store doesn’t stock.

The City should not have to provide incentives but they should do so regardless. Perhaps some persuasion/heat can be generated via Facebook and Twitter.

P.S.
Buffboy – I co-sign a Wegman’s in the space, as the Mid-town Mall in Rochester had/has.

LastMainin – what loitering? (Working downtown, I have been in the mall often in the past several years.) Security guards are very visible. The dismal spot has nothing to entice loiterers. It doesn’t have seating and students were prohibited, during the daytime, many years ago. Sounds like the owners don’t even walk through their sad place.

Shoplifting – not disputing it exists just as other malls experience it. However, years ago an athletic store owner reported that he was making $1 million dollars in the mall.

The owners were accused of pushing him out when they began their conversion to office space. Additionally, it was alleged they threatened to sue store owners who wanted to move into the old AMA’s at that time.