Buffalo Rising Online

It's too bad all or part of the historic Buffalo Forge complex - particulary the multi-story loft buildings - could not have been retained for some economic developmen purpose. It's a real loss for Broadway...

Plus side, we wont see plastic houses built here. But, what will the new development look like is the worry now.

who in the hell is gonna live down there? Bad idea

No one cares what happend there in 1902? Get ove this buffalo forever living in the past. That is why Forbes just listed Buffalo as one of 'the 10 fastest dying cities in the US'. WTF is with this residential component comment? There are residential components all around the site. Buffalo needds jobs jobs jobs, or there won't be much of Buffalo left in another 50 years

I think the location is a good one. The infrastructure is there. A new housing development is next door. Highways, Dowtown, and the Medical Campus are a stones throw away.

Could be part of a new critical mass on the East Side.

Could improve the desirability in the neighborhood between this development and downtown.

Wait and see.

Information needed. Does anyone know if the original owner of Buffalo Forge, Edgar Wendt, is an ancestor of Margaret L. Wendt of the Wendt Foundation? Or, is it just a coincidence?

This is going to be another ass backwards loss for Buffalo.

An eastside african american church developing 12.5acres of near urban land.

You know what its going to be churches and retail...

Heck this is an opportunity for Medaille or D'Youville or ECC downtown campus to relocate to a new campus! Anyone ever think of that.

This is an opportunity for a small business incubator facility for Buffalo State, Canisius or UB that is unrelated to the Life Sciences

This is an opportunity for a near urban office complex or mixed use office/high tech manufacturing/low tech manufacturing.

The last thing this site needs is: 1) Housing....focus housing needs in existing residential areas with infill. This is a rare large developable industrial (good/service) oriented site 2) Retail...all of Broadway and Genessee is a failed retail strip. Regenerate retail on Genesee or Broadway...dont do it on a site that could create real industrial (non-retail jobs)

wait you guys realize that the headline says the city does NOT see housing at this site, and they want to develop it for commercial use?

Why build a plant here as opposed to any number of other brownfields? Either way the plants would be adding to city tax base. Besides we have the whole American Axle plant becoming available. Shouldn't we be trying to divide and reuse that structure which is currently in great shape and covers a larger area?

The city needs new builds. People want them. Not everyone is clamoring for a telescoping cottage with no basement and 8x10 master bedrooms. A big reason the east side is the epicenter of the disinvesment due to population loss is the layout of the houses. The least desirable houses in the least desireable location.

This does afford an opportunity not seen on the west side, north buffalo etc where there is still an abundance of large historic homes to restore. This large plot of land offers a phase two opportunity to Sycamore Village. The large block is prime for a new alley down the center. Commerical buildings could be placed at Broadway with parking hidden behind them. Let Sycamore become a residential Pkwy and Broadway the commercial corridor for the area into downtown. We won't see densities to support commercial on both in our life times.

This block is only 8 blocks from downtown and pretty much the epicenter of newbuilds over the last 20 years in the area bounded by Clinton, Michigan, Sycamore, and Jefferson. Build on the roots that have been planted and the money that has already been invested. Tie in rehab requirements for notible remaining structures for any developer as part of any large scale projects.

The worst thing this can become is a plaza with a huge parking lot at Broadway and or Sycamore. It will effectively cut off Sycamore Village from the houses a couple blocks west and onward to downtown. And please no more random east side infill. The odd ball new builds only follow the downward disinvestment spriral instead up reversing it. They need to be clustered with similar home owners who can share a common interest/goal for the neighborhood. Also remove the park at the corner. Willert Park is only one block away and has courts in it. Open it up for the Broadway commercial component.

This site should be residential with well planned commercial along Broadway.

Great. We have a big vacant lot for all the companies that don't want to or won't come here. I predict that this will remain a brown field (very appropriate name) for quite a while if not forever.

Newsflash, companies aren't not coming here because we don't have vacant lots. There are plenty of those in better areas than this. They don't come here because of the high cost of doing business and the general pain in the butt that it is to run a business in NY. Then factor in the complete mess the local development process is with politicians who threaten to block any project if "they don't get theirs" and it isn't hard to see why the local business community is completely stagnant.

actually flyguy if you look at that area and pretty much all the way downtown the only thing you are going to see are new suburban types of homes. This area from Genesee South to William has has just about 100% of it demolished and rebuilt into a new neighborhood.

I know the gut reaction to being east of Main street is one of crime and vacancy but the 'Near' East side AKA the part of the east side Near downtown is a totally different place than it was 10 - 15 years ago.

Pine Street

Walnut & Cedar Streets

S Division & Hickory

You can basically walk these streets like in Cheektowaga or Tonawanda. These are about as suburban in style and lifestyle as they come. No one is ever on the streets and everyone just drives off in from their two car garage with the SUV to get everything. I walk

The main corridors of Sycamore, William or Broadway see a little more seedy activity because they are the connection from the actually bad parts farther east to downtown but these areas are about as uneventful as they come.

Face it, the East Side is one big shit whole because we all let it be.

they need take a demolition truck to the entire east side... that needs to happen first before anyone would even consider living there

GDF- good call. Look at all the vacant homes in the photo! And sbrof's links- all those cars in front of those homes- obviously stolen and ditched. Moron.

Sycamore Village is a stupid waste!

The eastside does need new homes but as infill on existing streets intermixed with existing older homes.

The last thing the eastside needs is to emulate the mistakes of urban renewal downtown (ie building on old streets, creating new streets/alleys where they didnt exist, new developments, etc)

Look at the blocks adjacent to the Buffalo Forge site. 50%-75% of the homes are demolished. Infill those city blocks with new housing and you have a real neighborhood stabilization project.

Taking rare contiguous city blocks and infilling with cookie cutter cheaps....isnt going to do ****

the blocks you are looking at have mainly new builds on them. So I agree with you, infill those blocks and connect them with this one.