Cobblestone District- Bumpy Road to Rebirth
Since its grand opening in September 1996, HSBC Arena has not spurred the restaurants, bars, and other investment envisioned in the Cobblestone District by arena proponents and city officials. There was even fear that a new entertainment district at the foot of Main attracted by the arena would kill Chippewa Street. Not even close.
Cities throughout the United States have seized upon sports facilities as a means to revitalize specific districts within their downtowns. Few have proven to be successful revitalization tools due to their locations typically in a blighted area or at the periphery of downtown, the sporadic nature of events, and the tendency for buildings surrounding sports stadiums to be demolished to satisfy an increased demand for parking.
While sports facilities single-handedly fail to revitalize their districts, they can generate a significant amount of foot traffic in a mixed-use district. And that is what is slowly being created at the foot of Main Street. First Amherst Development’s Lofts @ Elk Terminal not only was a pioneering effort in the Cobblestone District, it was the first in the recent wave of downtown residential projects. Other developers are following. Cobblestone Lofts is bringing 24-hour activity to Mississippi Street with boutique office space that is the new home of Savarino Companies, 36 future lofts, and W.J. Morrissey's, an Irish café/bar that was announced on Monday.
As more people are drawn to lower Main Street, the area will become more appealing to developers. HSBC and the Buffalo News anchor the foot of Main Street, employing approximately 1000 workers at One News Plaza and the HSBC Atrium building. Add a revitalized Inner Harbor attraction and Bass Pro at the Aud and suddenly the dynamic changes. Restaurants and retailers could set up shop to tag onto the stream of events and people attending them at HSBC Arena and feed off the traffic promised by Bass Pro and its built-in hotel. Residents and nearby workers provide a built-in market. Any gamblers lured out of the proposed casino, likely or not, would just be icing on the cake.
The Buffalo Inner Harbor Development Corporation has retained the services of Ehrenkrantz Exkstut & Kuhn architects to create a master plan and design standards for the district including the vacant Webster Block north of the arena, Donovan State Office Building site, upper floors of the former DL&W Terminal and the parking lots along Perry Street.
The key is to create a mixed-use district with round-the-clock activity all year (Portland’s Pearl District anyone?). Think hockey during the winter and waterfront attractions during the summer. Now add Bass Pro and its planned Great Lakes museum, light rail connecting to the remainder of downtown, a nearby residential population and downtown workers, and the ingredients start falling into place to create a dynamic collection of public space, retail, bars and restaurants. Pipe dream or is W.J. Morrissey's the beginning of something great? Too soon to tell, but that is the plan.
Photos by Jay Smith
And thus it is that flawed city planning theory trumps empirical experience. Convention centers and sports stadiums do not by themselves lead to spin-off private development because they offer either feast or famine. The times when you have a flood of customers (during a convention or a game) cannot sustain you during the often long stretches when the facility is unused.
Downtown residential development, which more reliably supplies a steady customer base, is probably why we're finally seeing bars arrive in the Cobblestone District.
Retail follows residents!
It's not "flawed city planning theory." Planners generally agree that sports facilities do little to spawn redevelopment, unless they are very well designed, the urban fabric around them is left intact, the facility hosts frequent events, and attendance is in the tens of thousands. Witness Coors Field in Denver's LoDo district. Even then, such cases are extremely rare. In all the planning-related journals and publications I read, and on all the message boards and listservs populated by planners, sports facilities are almost never considered urban panaceas. NEVER.
It's not planners that are stadium-happy, but rather boosterism-oriented economic development specialists, Chamber of Commerce types, the local media, and politicians who want to "leave a legacy." The collective voice of hundreds of thousands of rabid sports fans also shouldn't be discounted; they're armchair planners as much as they are armchair quarterbacks. The voices of those groups are much louder, and have a much more welcoming ear among civic leaders, than planners with numbers that say otherwise. Stadiums make voters feel good. Planners with case studies and academic papers discounting the effect of sports facilities are just downers.
I swear, on Buffalo Rising, planners are looked upon in about as favorable of a light as telemarketers. The problem isn't about planning in Buffalo, but rather the lack of it. The city's planning staff is extremely small compared to similarly sized cities.
Obviously, the city is not doing enough to market the area to developers and offer the necessary incentives. Lots of potential here.
Reallly like the tree growth atop the Farimont Creamery.
Just imagine the state of that rooftop!
You need REAL planners. People with experience and know their stuff. I would rather cast my lot with them than politicians and their brilliant ideas and nothing else. They really have no idea what works.
pauldub- just curious why you think Wannamaker and the current planning staff don't qualify as 'REAL planners'? Truth is, planners can only do so much and often so much of what they are taught in school about how to do things tend to be not politically expedient. As a result, they have to do the best with the administration and development climate in which they work under. The other thing is that measurable change to an urban environment takes a long time to occur. I personally think that we are seeing small signs of positive momentum in revitalizing Buffalo and the current planning office and their dedication to the Queen City Hub Plan are a testament to recent developments. The truth is, for Buffalo to really jumpstart its renaissance, its not going to come from the planning office, but from a mayor who has the vision and gumption to allow their planners to make the necessary adjustments to how the city operates and develops.
yeah it is usually the problem where you have planners, but the lack of political will to support them. This actually did change with the last Administration. Masiello if he did nothing else, hired actually planners for the planning department before which was nothing but political hacks. Produced a nationally recognized comprehensive plan. The "best urban comprehensive plan" in the country (or some title like that) from the APA (american planning association.)
This not only inspired the city but developers and was the CORNER STONE in returning some faith in Buffalo and Government to many developers. Once this plan was finished and proved to be real, is when many of the residential downtown developments (which was a part of this plan from the beginning) started to happen.
Unfortunatly Brown doesn't seem to believe in this method of city development and has let several of the key players in planning and this project go. AKA Chuck Thomas was a fantastic asset for this city and really was the go to guy for developers and anyone who really cared about this city. I wish him well whatever he is donig next. Masiello might not have built tangible things but he did start reshaped the city government behind the scenes for the better.The results of we are living and enjoying now. I hope that Brown can build on this momentum by supporting planners. Planners come up with the ideas and the vision it is up the politicians to enact on them. This is were planners usually get their negative reputation because no one wants to do what they say, usually because what they say takes time and may not provide the best ribbon cutting events that the politicians want.
PS sorry for always writting so much. :p
Case in point Chicago:
Wrigley Filed on the north side has no large parking lots surrounding it. It is served by lots of public transit and is fit tightly into a mixed commercial and residential neighborhood. It also has quirky-isms like rooftop party decks on top of the buildings accross from the stadium that view into. The neighborhood is very busy and fun. People love coming to Cubs games becaus of it and the old ball park
Sox park on the south side is surrounded by parking and nothing else. Public transit is available but you have to walk through several blocks of parking to get to it. The sox only draw fans when they are a World Series contender
Case in point Buffalo:
HSBC Arena is surrounded on 2 sides with parking. There is no mixture of uses and amny unused buildings. The office buildings in the area can't possibly benefit form any event in the arena.
Bjr8- I did not mean to show any disrespect to the planners. Quite the opposite. I was stating that I felt the problem is politicians who feel they know the field and go off on tangents, Ignoring the planners who actually have expertise in this field.
I too see an improvement in Buffalo, and am very excited about it.
Let us hope that the mayor listens to those who know the field, and does not cave to the quick fix, something pretty type deal.
Not to get off topic too much, but does anyone know the status of Bass Pro? Last I heard "environmental review" of the Aud was underway--and that could make or break the deal? I keep hoping that no news is good news, and that a really huge announcement with plans BEYOND the original scope will be announced SOON. (I can dream!)
BRO: Any inside dirt?
(Steel)
> The neighborhood is very busy and fun
Let's not forget:
Home games in the baseball season (MLB): 81 + playoffs
Average game attendance (nationally): 27,677
Fans/year (excluding playoffs): 2,241,837
Home games in the hockey season (NHL): 41 + playoffs
Average game attendance (nationally): 16,533
Fans/year (excluding playoffs): 677,853
Home games in the football season (NFL): 2 preseason + 8 regular season + playoffs.
Average preseason game attendance (nationally): 60,745
Average game attendance (nationally): 67,593
Fans/year (excluding playoffs): 662,234
Apologies to Dan with the dig at planners. I shoulda known that it was yet another case where professional expertise is ignored for the sake of scoring an expensive, publically subsidized trophy building. Trophies are fine; every city should have some. I just wish that these trophies were honestly presented to the public as such, rather than as economic development home runs.
I only one have a few things to add
1) extend the light rail further into South Buffalo with a Park&Ride alternative for the skyway/Route5 and I90
2) make sure you keep and expand the cobblestone streets. They may force cars to go 30mph and they may be a pain to plow but they are invaluable to setting the tone of the entire district. I would map out the entire cobblestone district which should be most of the old Erie Canal Warehouse District or First Ward etc and replace all the streets except for major routes like South Park.
3) I have said it before and I will say it again. Emulate the success of the Erie Canal Terminus and unearth and rewater the Ohio Basin under Father Connolly Park and one side build a conference center, on the other build the convention center and on the other build the hotel.
4) This area was filled with Canals: Ohio, Hamburg, O&S, etc. Its time to put Brass Plackards of all the Canals that comprised the Erie Canal Warehouse District . The Erie Canal didnt really end at the Western Terminus but travelled into the heart of the city and branched off into numerous canals that fed the warehouses and industries that made Buffalo the industrial and commercial capital between Chicago and NYC.
The new Convention and Conference Center is the next major economic project that must be financed and built. It MUST incorporate a conference center and it MUST incorporate the canals/waterfront and it MUST be located off the light rail which means that there is no other place than the cobblestone district for this development.
Even Geiger accepts that they will never be able to get approval to destroy more of the downtown street grid to expand the convention center and so even he admits that the Convention Center will be the next addition to the Cobblestone District. The sooner we make it happen the more it will mean for the Inner and Outer Harbor Development.
Downtown is moving south and east......lets encourage it by getting this project financed and built.....while ECC expands eastward.
I got news for everyone - BASS PRO IS NEVER COMING TO DOWNTOWN -
People in this town constantly set themselves up for disappointment - Be more realistic, DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOUR HEAR.
Don't get your hopes up on a reviatlization - it will be a very long time.
Steel you make an excellent point - since I have traveled to every major sports venue, allow me to throw out other examples than Wrigley Field where vast amounts of surface parking are not a major component of the venue's success:
Boston's TD Banknorth Gardens
Boston's Fenway Park
Montreal's Bell Centre
Montreal's Forum (now closed)
Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens (now closed)
New York's Madison Square Garden
Washington's Verizon Center
None of these sports faciltiies offer or offered vast amounts of convenient surface parking... what they all do have is easy access to public ral lines or subways. Teams also provide detailed information and maps on their websites as to what parking is available and where to find it. The knowledgable fan plans ahead and finds their spot.
Why do I bring this up? Because there are massive amounts of open lots east of HSBC Arena that are screaming for development. And inevitably, there will be a noise as to "you can't do that, you can't take out those lots where are people going to park!?"
All over downtown, that's where. Riding the Metrorail that's how.
The Wrigley v Comiskey.... err... US Cellular Field example, is about the most shining comparison one can offer. Wrigleyville is the most amazing thing a visitor can experience on game day... the combination of shops, homes, pubs and restaurants, the street vendors, rooftop bleachers, the crowds, all combining to make a visit here one to remember and savor.
Oh... and the parking sucks. Deal with it. No one sees to mind.
Being from Chicago, I can tell you that Andrew is right about Wrigley and Comiskey.
I need to make one thing very clear to everyone here.
IF, and it is a big if, the city is serious about being a city with a vital and healthy downtown, than parking can not be a concern.
Chicago, Boston, NYC, they have parking, but it costs a fortune. They rely on public transportation. There are these weird things called taxi's all over the place in these cities that seem stunningly absent in Buffalo.
Now granted, these are much larger cities with major infrastructure and transportation in place, but still, no one looks at where are people going to park in these cities.
How about this idea. Underground garages or garages on the first two or three levels with the buildings above?
Think about it, dead of winter, you go underground and never have to bear the cold. Look at the Marina Towers in Chicago. Several floors of parking before the condo's begin.
The bottom line, is that the arena is already there, you can take the train to a stone's throw, that's good enough. That entire area should be developed. Forget about the parking. Forget about how people from Amherst and Hamburg are going to get there. Maybe it will actually convince them to move into the city.
We need to dramaticaly shift our paradigm here.
oh wow, I just got back from Chicago tonight and noticed a stark sox vs. cubs stadium comparison Steel and subsequent posters pointed out.
I have to say that the Cobblestone is on the cusp of becoming a very vibrant, thriving mixed-use district.
When places exist that manage to be both FUN and COOL, easy parking becomes an afterthought. "Where the hell am I gonna park?" is a main concern in an area that is a bleak moonscape of blight and surface lots. People won't mind walking father to the arena if there is fun and interesting stuff along the way.
Once Buffalo gets a true 24/hr mixed use distict with some regional attractions, I think it will open the floodgates toward a renewed interest in urban living.