Living very near one of the few economically healthy commercial streets in Buffalo will present this kind of issue sometimes.

...We love living in the city, and so close to Hertel but living near Hertel and living almost next to a parking lot and commercial driveway is completely different! We (my family) did not invest so much money into our house and this neighborhood to look out our window or down the street to see a cookie cutter building surrounded by parking spaces on each side. ...

When the hardware store on Hertel closed a few months ago, didn't they also cite lack of good parking lot access as a problem?

If Hertel's success continues, anyone considering buying a house very near to it should _expect_ potential impacts from business activity. Owners of homes very near Grant Street probably wish for this kind of problem compared to the alternative they're experiencing all these years with no growth in sight.

Buffalodrift - HNBBA signed off on this project. I've said this before....these businesses and developers don't really dictate what gets built. The city and the neighborhood groups are the one's that made FV add awnings, the peaks, ect. FV wanted the building to front the length of Hertel with parking in the rear, which would have given this property one curb cut. FACT!!!

Lets not bash a business that want to open in WNY. Lets push gov't and our neighborhood groups to adopt different or better building design codes. Lets not take one project at a time. Different rules and standards were applied to BOA on elmwood or all the new Benderson retail or FV on Hertel or the new Dunkin's on Main.

mjman4 - What exactly is pedestrian hostile? Looks like they'll build right to the street with (presumably) see-thru windows, doesn't it? Yeah, curb cuts and a parking lot but thats a necessity.

This building is not designed for the pedestrian for which will be 90% of its business!!!!!

And not that it matters, but I really doubt anywhere near 90% of their busines is walk-up. I'd guess well less than half.

The curb cut is the least of the problems with this thing. Oh my god! This will be good fodder for my "What were they thinking" series.

Maybe FV expects and wants more customer flow than Martinos did.

...To make the argument that this driveway won't increase traffic implies that it won't be used much, right? Then why include it? The current building functions with the parking lot only exiting on Hertel, why can't Family Video? ...

FV's type of business is much higher volume and lower price than appliances. It might've been smart for Martinos to have had this driveway if their building allowed access from the back, but it didn't. As Dan points out it's considered good practice. It won't be a video store forever. Broadband advances will continue to make those fewer. Whatever kind of store it is in the future, it should benefit from more efficient customer access provided by the driveway. If this driveway reduces traffic backups on Hertel (compared to if all FV customer flow is limited to Hertel coming and going), that might also benefit other businesses on Hertel.

"should we pay the price" ohh come on. How many cars would this really generate and would it really be noticeable, i doubt it.

It is actually going to be a smaller building than what is there now pretty much the same height and width but yet renovations are implausible.. I find it hard to believe that demolishing one box to build another is cheaper than renovating one.. This isn't some architectural wonder where extra care or attention is needed.. It sounds like they want to demolish the building for the purpose of putting in the extra driveway.

The building is awful-plain and simple. It is a cookie-cutter building designed for suburban strip malls. Hertel Ave needs to do better than this (by Hertel Ave I mean the business association there, Hertel-North Buffalo Business Association (HNBBA)). Too many people think that since this is Buffalo, we should feel blessed if anyone decides to build something or open something new. If Family Video bought the location, they must want to have a store there for business reasons. HNBBA (and probably frequenters of Hertel Ave) would prefer to have a successful business at that location as well. So, there is give and take. But, the HNBBA (or the city, or someone) must require that the building fit in with the urban landscape, not a suburban strip mall. It should be on the street (parking in the back, but maybe side is OK), entrance in the front on the street, and a face on the Sterling side that is not a barren wasteland that is asking for trash and graffiti.

Someone really needs to prevent new businesses from turning their backs on the street in what are currently successful commercial districts. As soon as Hertel (or any street) is thought of as just a means to get people to a parking lot, its identity is lost. It becomes no different than Niagara Falls Blvd or Transit or Sheridan, or Delaware (northern part, but also now most of it in the city) or Maple Post Parkway outside of Columbus, Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, Charlotte, etc. Basically it becomes everywhere and nowhere.

I have nothing against Family Video, but it is hard to believe that the Family Video company can get loans/investments to finance its expansion. The business model of renting DVDs from a storefront just seems to me to be bound for obsolescence. Through the mail is great (Netflix) and downloading is only going to get better (and faster). But, again, the most important issue is the building. We can do better

Exactly REFLIP. Hertel is close to a 100 yr old urban, commercial street. There is no place for a single use, single floor, disposable building. This store will not be here forever, or very long for that matter in this day and age of digital media, so the Planning Board should be asking, "what type of building would best fit the street in 10-20-40 years from now."

The North Park hamlet within Hertel is just starting to gain an identity for itself and needs new build development that is multi-use like the LuModern building. The design could have at least been more contemporary, urban, commercial district neutral, like the Lex Coop. Or god forbid, they could have faked it a bit better like the faux 2 floor Bank of America on Elmwood. I just hope it's real brick and not red cinderblock, like what the renderings looks like.

Oh, and SIMCOE, you must be about highschool aged, so we forgive you for your ignorance, since you aren't old enough to remember... but Hertel IS Elmwood 10-15 years ago. Going through changes, fledgeling, reinventing itself. Hertel is dirty? You may not remember, that little pocket park in front of Globe where you drink your Spot used to be filled with graffiti and urine... just down the block from the once boarding houses that now hold DeLish... or the auto repair garage that is now Cecelia’s... or the abandoned bank that became the Coop.

Elmwood is doing well for itself and we celebrate that. It is not the gold standard by any means. Plenty of us have actually left Elmwood and now reside in Hertel/North Park to be a part of this neighborhoods rebirth. We want to contribute to something not just leech from a given neighborhood. Learn the neighborhoods histories before you pass judgement.

The curb cut on Sterling had always been there. it just hasn't been used much. Go there today and you will see that the curb cut already exists. This is a vast improvement...Martino's had a tremendous amount of enviro abatement, inside and out, anyone who has ever stepped foot in the bldg knows the conditions were horrible.

This project spent a FULL YEAR in the city and neighborhood groups hands. Approval wasn't easy. Let me say that again. It took a FULL YEAR for all our layers of government to sign off on this little tiny 5,000 sq ft retail bldg.

For someone to come out now and complain......come one, were you sleeping the past 12 months?

Sorry double click, double post. Agree with others who've said that would be good to fix. Most blogs these days seem to detect that and add only one copy of a comment.

can understand the concern of residents, but would the locals rather have an empty & rundown building/lot 24/7 -- or an empty and relatively nice-looking and quiet & safe building 12 hours a day...

Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with Ms Luciano you have to admire her determination and fighting for what she believes in. I think that's more then what our elected officials can claim!

Won't the pull thru be used for a "drive up drop off"?

Also bigger windows on the side would look nice..... Kind of looks like a jail on the side

mjman4 - Ok I see your point and won't disagree with your taste. But why do you say the ugliness is "pedestrian hostile"? It will look like a Ponderosa to people walking, driving, biking, whatever. The ugly Walgreens a few blocks away was allowed, and the BK, etc. Maybe if there's some constructive reasonable suggestions from residents about appreance, the city could push FV for changes.

In two years when it is bankrupt, put in a drive in - Call it Tim Hortons

One good thing, at least from my Wellington Road house, I can get my movies and my drink on before walking home.

FYI - The Shadow Lounge that shares that parking lot with the new Family Video, is a great bar....Kind of old school Hertel

How much money can you make selling and renting videos? They have to be in for $1,000,000 on this property. I don't get it.

THANK GAWD they don't seem to have plans to put their signature GLASS BLOCK Obelisk at this location. Sweet mother is that thing hideous. But I have a bad feeling it will end up on the parking lot side. Please don't put one here... please....

http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/884254b3-aa6e-49d0-b4f9-31f7b377d1d7.jpg

I hope you will at least be able to get cotton candy or a candy apple here, or your shirts laundered and starched. Or a gallon of milk. Or some booze. Or a nice recliner. Or a blow-out sale on flooring. Or a shredder/.chipper. Or a deal on discount window coverings.