He definitely looked busy when we were down there yesterday. Did any of you notice that there was a couple of kids who set up a lemonade stand as well? Gotta love the young entrepreneuralism!

I think it would be cool to have a vendor schedule for this location. That way, if one of your favorite vendor's is scheduled, maybe yo go there ! Just an idae.

Gaustad...I consider myself to be on the inpatient side when it comes to waterfront development, but you make me seem like Mr. Optimistic after reading every one of your posts. Give it a rest.

Gaustad- There are definitley places to sit....there are park benches all along the wharf and right up the marina and people also can bring chairs and blankets like so many do to enjoy the atmosphere and the weather. Did you not go down there at all this weekend?

Tom was extremely busy yesterday, great for him! As were the 2 young guys with the lemonade. One thing i noticed was that alot of the people who bought ice cream from me were foreigners... womdering if they may have been Niagara Falls tourists who came down for the day. If so, that's awesome! There were so many people there and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. Makes me really excited and anxious for the next phase.

It's great to see a vendor like this in our new, beautiful (tourist?) area. With a bright, clean cart and a Sabres hat, this guy represents the city well - in a way that is both professional and inviting. Good job!

Ha, wrong link, sorry. Here are the photos from the Memorial Day opening of the Commercial Boat Slip:

http://flickr.com/photos/14610035@N08/sets/72157605256232135/show/

why can't the politicians in Buffalo get it - We spend all this money on this project and no where to sit down and eat or drink outside.

Phase II of this project will not be completed for years. We need something now to keep people down here. Little cafe of something. this is not a destination, yet, it is a place to visit for a haf hour and then leave.

KenS -

Impatient?!

It took nine fu-king years to build a little boat slip, a waterfall, and a chain llinked sign.

If you call that impatient....you have a lot to learn.

No veggie dogs? Come on!

just curious, but wouldn't it have made more sense to build the commercial part under the skyway first and then the boat slip; this way there is at least some foot trafffic

those pics are great, thanks jattea!

I would luv to see the DL&W terminal be a part of the new development and retail/restaurant destination sounds great too.

Any word on a possible Bike Museum ( they wanted to move from Orhard Park to this area not too long ago) and the Aerospace Museum from Niagara Falls,where and when will they be set up?

Tomaso's Hot Dog Stand would like to thank the people who ate at Tomaso's Saturday during the Holiday weekend. The people were very friendly and happy to see the great work the city is doing to make the area what it should be. We work hard to bring the best product to buffalo and proud to be apart of the new developments in the city. I would like to give a special thanks to Morgan at Buffalo Place for the opportunity to be the best vendor it the city. Also I would like to thank Newell Nussbaumer from Buffalo Rising for the write up on this site, thanks Newell. To the ICECREAMGUY, thanks for the ice cream. It was great. If anyone is interested in having me come to your house party or special event please contact me (TOMASO) at 603-5926. Look forward to being there. Thank You, TOMASO'S CATERING

i visited with my wife and two young boys on Monday..alot of people and it was later in the day...round 4. no vendor which was unfortunate but it's still early. We bought some snacks in the gift shop of the museum sat on a bench and had a great time. We used the restrooms in the museum and were down there for about an hour and half or so....again a great time. I will be there alot this year and look forward to new developments. If anyone has been to Plymouth,Ma they have a series of shops connected by pathways that I think would work great here. Nothing too big that takes away from the harbor but something more for people to do and put some locas in business.

I drove past the canal area yesterday and afternoon and was pleased to see a vendor out there. What I didn't notice was any bathroom facilities. Did they have porta-potties setup somewhere so that people didn't have to go all the way back to the Hatch?

Nothing against Tomaso's, but after a hour or two of winding our way around from NoBFLo - we went to "the Hatch" and had a seat and ate.

The hot dog stand did not seem to have what we wanted - Beer and a seat.

The area/harbor is neat and the is a great first step. Clean, people walking around, zero riff/raff.

Anyone else think that DL&W terminal could play some part the the retail/restaurant part???

Of course some Red light restaurants to go with the relationship of the Erie Canal Time-frame. I obviously am just an arm chair visionary, but just brainstorming....

The photos look Great!!! Jatteau good lookin slideshow.

Tommy's delicious menu can be enjoyed most weekday afternoons at the southeast corner of Delaware and Huron. I welcome all of Tommy's clients to enjoy their lunch from the comfort of my front steps at Big Blue.

His angus burgers are out of this world!

Tomaso - - - please tell me you do not take and exchange money with the gloves on...if not, you would be the first I know of and i would give you thanks. Nothing more disgusting than the vendor guys who do not take the gloves off when exchanging money...and no, taking one glove off isn't sufficient nor is it sanitary. All carts should be required to have a full box of gloves at the start of every day. Once a glove is removed from the hand, it should be thrown away and a fresh glove put back on. This is a general rant and not directed to you...unless of course you do what I previously mentioned...

Here are some more pictures from the new Commercial Boat Slip over Memorial Day:

http://www.buffalorising.com/users/confirm_email/jattea/iitt7n5ixzr8hg3dsibt

People have tried to get the NFTA to allow the D&L Terminal to be used, but my understanding is that they aren't interested. I think Newell was involved in one of those ventures, so he might be able to explain more. But, renewed efforts are worth it now that there is something down there for people to see. What a perfect place for a market like Portland, Oregon's Saturday market - where people can purchase locally made artisan type of goods, a farmers market, food stands and some live music, performers, etc. It is the perfect building for something like that and it would definitely draw in people. How do we convince the NFTA that this would lead to increased rail use and more $$ for them?

What about that empty space inside the Marina Tower? Isn't there or used to be restrooms? and available space for a cafe/restaurant? That would be a great place since it's right next to the new beach.

flyguy...I know that when the plan(can be found on the Empire Development website) was released for the inner harbor there was going to be a great lakes museum and a visitor center, but since most of that plan never materialized, I have no idea what the next proposal for the space(to be released this summer) will include.

It took nine years because plans kept changing due to the findings of the original building foundations and erie canal (original plan was to have a replica of all of it where the Navel Park is now whiich we had to move all the ships and build a new museum which was part of the Phase 1 project). And Bass Pro hold ups which seems official now with the demo of the Aud and Donovan Building followed by Bass Pro and Parking ramp with retail and restaurants going up under the skyway and surface lot in front of the HSBC Arena. Details of all this and possible list of who else is coming (retail and restaurant wise) is being made public this Summer. By next year to a year and a half from now we will see Phase 2.

Mariner - Great posting! I am glad to hear that it was mobbed down there again today. I didn't get a chance to get down there again today as the wife had plans for the house that needed to get done. I definitely agree that we shouldn't bash the progress that has been done. There seems to be a lot of negativity with the people in this area and nothing ever seems to make them happy. If you aren't happy with your situation, keep it to yourself or do something about it besides try to make other people miserable. We need to bring and the Positivity to our city because things are changing for the good!

i visited with my wife and two young boys on Monday..alot of people and it was later in the day...round 4. no vendor which was unfortunate but it's still early. We bought some snacks in the gift shop of the museum sat on a bench and had a great time. We used the restrooms in the museum and were down there for about an hour and half or so....again a great time. I will be there alot this year and look forward to new developments. If anyone has been to Plymouth,Ma they have a series of shops connected by pathways that I think would work great here. Nothing too big that takes away from the harbor but something more for people to do and put some locas in business.

Wow- looks like 90 percent of WNY has been down there! So here's the question- is it enough to bring you back or is it a 'seen it' and you're 'over it' type of place?