Cobblestone District Growing- Club Planned for Illinois Street

very nice. Hopefully they can make it feel like an old historic venue

Hopefully this spurs even more development along this street. Could be a great entertainment district (but NOT like Chippewa)

that street has the potential of being a really awesome strip. I love every building on that block. Hopefully this place will be classy not some teeny-bopper dance club

It would be great if something gets done with the remaining buildings on this block up to South Park. Hopefully Higgins and Termini can do something with 2nd floor of NFTA terminal building that will help speed redevelopment of them. I believe these are the same buildings that Cobblestone Bar owner wants for surface parking.

There's no way this place will ever top Nite Club on East Hertel as a live music destination. No way.

The building next door is great.

I would love to see a House of Blues type place.

So glad to see such positive momentum on this block. Makes me hope there will be positive energy to bring about revitalization of the blacksmith building as well as opposed to demo as had been proposed. This street has too many good bones and I am DAMN HAPPY that I volunteered a couple shifts back in the 90's to help lift those cobblestones, clean them up and ship them off for processing so that they could be re-laid there. Nice to have put some sweat into a street like that down there.

I do hope that Chippewa, Canalside, Hertel, Allentown-Elmwood, Cobblestone Districts can all hold their own and the market doesnt force cannabalize one another. With all this momentum it would REALLY be great to see some population and income growth in the region and city so these concerns would go away. The area has a good thing going, just need that light to go on and bring in some outside growth and demand, catch a tiny percentage of worldwide population growth.

Always glad to see good stuff happening in the Cobblestone District. When I was commuting from Rochester to work on a financial project there between '04 and '06 there were few lunch options besides the Swannie House. I love the Swannie House, and while I was working there got their food almost daily, but it would have been nice to have other options for an occasional changeup.

Jeez.....with Town Ballroom, Nietzsche's, Mohawk Place, and the Tralf....now this place.......Buffalo could start to rival Toronto with attracting new talent.....this looks great

What is the latest on the Blacksmith building on that corner? Will it be renovated soon or allowed to rot?

I saw a rendering of this project during a meeting 2/21 in the OFW Center in which Sam Savarino was present. Before I provide an update on the other properties in question on South Park Ave. here is a little background info.

Concerning the properties on South Park Ave and Illinois St., the first building at the corner, number 110 South Park Ave., sits on nearly a quarter acre lot. The property extends 220 feet down Illinois and 50 feet across South Park Ave. covering almost the entire width of the blacksmith shop on the backside. It is owned by Darryl Carr with a Bowmansville NY PO Box mailing address. In 2009 Carr purchased the building from James Downing for $500,000. Downing purchased the building from long time owner Phoenix Die Casting in 1998.

Carr also owns the building at the other corner, number 130 South Park Ave. at the corner of Mississippi St. In 2003 Carr purchased that building from William Crawford for $350,000.

The blacksmith shop at 118 South Park Ave. (the middle building next to the alley) sits on a lot that is 66'x 100'. This building was also owned outright by Carr. Carr purchased the building from long time owner Ed Rudnicki back in 2001 for $150,000. However, Carr sold it in 2010 to EQUITY TRUST CO/PARK AVENUE ESTATES LLC. Now the interesting thing with this sale is that it was sold to the LLC as a clean sale and get this, for $1. NOT a quit claim BTW. My own speculation here says that Carr removed the building from his name, maybe because he was being pressured by the courts, city, preservationists, or potential buyers. What the sale accomplishes is to shield him from direct liability and leaves a paper trail to trace ownership to him. In other words it sounds like the LLC is an ownership front with no other purpose. Carr is not selling this building for a net loss of $149,999 after nine years of ownership.

Which brings us back to Savarino. At the 2/21 meeting Savarino mentioned something about this block during his presentation. It was here that the rendering was shown for the building at 49 Illinois St. He also had a rendering for the South Park Ave properties that was I believe a conceptual view of possibilities. Savarino was immediately questioned about this and he quietly withdrew any factual comment with a large grin. However under more scrutiny he casually, but not directly admitted that things are being "seriously looked into" and that there are ownership issues to deal with. My impression of this was that Savarino, and or another group, are in negotiations or pursuing other means to wrestle these properties from Carr (who was not named at the time). He did confirm that these indeed are on the board for badly needed development and appears very interested. IMO, with a high probability by his company. So stay tuned for hopefully some good news.

Im one of those people that doesnt see the future of the Chippewa Street as an entertainment district nor do I see the the future of the Buffalo Convention Center at its present location.

The business district is growing, downtown residential is growing and the government district is growing.

Downtown and Chippewa need to evolve into a mature entertainment, dinner theater type district, canalside perhaps a historic, recreational, event oriented district.

If Buffalo were smart, they would encourage the movement of a clubbing district to the Seneca Casino and create a 24 hour district.

If Buffalo were smart, it would start planning for a new Convention Center somewhere else. There are only 2 places it can (should) really go. It can only go somewhere on light rail route to the Larking District/Central Terminal or somewhere on light rail route to Canalside/First Ward District (better to make it canal themed perhaps at the Ohio Basin and Canal).

1. Dan Smalls Presents partners with Babeville (easily the best space for music in the city). Town Ballroom finally has competition for medium capacity live music in Buffalo.

2. Showplace Theater gets new ownership and is undergoing a renovation with a return as a music venue in mind.

3. A BRAND NEW music club opening in one the most exciting developing entertainment district in the city, an area that just got a wonderful new Comedy Club late last year.

losing Mohawk hurt, but live entertainment in Buffalo is proving to be resilient.

Would be cool to see a vintage [ala North park Theater] marquee on this building showcasing the events.

I wish one of the BRO commenters would have eluded to this a couple weeks ago. Hummmm I wonder who that might have been?

Cool! Lets just hope its not a club like the Town Ballroom, if you know what I mean.

I hope they open up the rooftop as a terrace or outdoor lounge area. Perhaps a green roof, none of which should interfere with the tax credits

Sounds like a great idea. It seems as though most shows that come to town do very well so having more medium sized venues to appeal to regional and national touring acts would be great.

As far as Chippewa goes, I believe that area is already maturing. Sure, there are still dance clubs (like LUX) but there are now less bars/clubs open since any time in recent memory. La Luna has been replaced by a Mighty Taco and Third Room has been absorbed by Bacchus. Omega Lounge is closed. The "problem bars" Social, Big Bad Wolf, and Barcelona are all closed. Having less bars around changes the area but there are now also more restaurants. Soho is now a gourmet burger joint and the infamous Bayou Nightclub is becoming a restaurant called The Lodge. Little by little the area is evolving into a diverse patchwork of restaurants, bars, hotels, and offices.

What's happening by Canalside and Cobblestone is great. Better late than never. Let's keep pushing forward with modern housing and restaurants/nightlife. If we could just convince a major employer like CitiGroup or Geico to move their offices down there we'd be in business!