Niagara Street has been a horrible mess for at least 45 years. What's going to change it now? Residential buildings are not the answer.
Niagara Street has been a horrible mess for at least 45 years. What's going to change it now? Residential buildings are not the answer.
ummm....such "redevelopment" needs some sort of real economic impetus. I see next to none at this point.
ALERT: WESTSIDERS KEEP YOUR WINDOWS CLOSED, that's chlorine burning in that building on Niagara Street,
If this street actually realizes its potential one day it will redevelop with some mid-rise to high-rise residential type buildings. As well I see this street as a corridor of international commerce with proximity to the border crossing and access to downtown. If it ends up a corridor with alot of vacant lots I say its a result of market conditions and a lack of focus on targetting the area for economic development. The whole Niagara Street corridor extending up into Blackrock/ Riverside needs some love to turn bad trends good and save these areas before they end up totally obliterated like the lower east side where theres really nothing left, the urban built environment has been so terribly damaged that its now a piece of memory and history. At least this area has enough built environment left to maintain the historic urban feel yet allow for large new developments as well. The market needs to see the value of the corridor and fix it. Then again if that sewage treatment plant is still fouling up the area with odors then all bets are off. How many years have gone by since that problem started? Is it still an issue? I havent been by Squaw Island in awhile.
The City is disappearing one building at a time. We seem to lose one or two buildings a day due to fire, demolition, neglect or weather. How long until the gaps in the street outnumber the buildings? How long until the East Side and West Side turn into shovel ready fields waiting for development that never comes. Some of the streets are downright eerie to walk on, it is almost as though we need tumbleweeds and sagebrush to create the full effect.
i drove past the great brick building this evening at like 730... its gone forever. the fire riped down to the ground floor. so sad i loved that building.
Niagara street has so much potential, fom the lower west side up into black rock and riverside are some of the best old buildings in Buffalo, with enough critical mass to give context. This area is ripe for redevelopement and is truly under valued.
Niagara Street and the entire lower west side is hostage to the Peace Bridge and how that project, if ever completed, will treat traffic flow. It is the 800 pound gorilla that is going to determine the lower west side's fate. Until then, we get to see buildings burn down with no replacement or plans.
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