Buffalo Rising Online

While I think it could have been better incorporated....this should be a lesson to Buffalos abominable demolish happy developers...to keep the facade and use its frontage while developing a modern new build in the rear.

This does not have to happen everywhere....as we have already lost so much and now have empty parking lots and grassy lots but whenever a developer and a preservationist clash...this should be the proposed solution.

This is a precedent that neither preservationist nor developer should ignore...or they ignore it at their own peril.

I don't think the Gas Works facade was "incorporated" at all. It's actually quite sad to see the lack the imagination used here.

Up to this point, I had no idea there were reflective, tinted glass windows on buildings in the late 1840s. Not only did Health Now do such a great job at seemlessly molding the Gasworks facade to their spaceship, but they kept the orignial facade true to its origins. Bravo!

Too bad LEED standards cannot create LEAD standards.

One thing that was assimilated rather well is the 1600-car parking ramp, which will allow every employee driving off the freeway to avoid ever setting foot on an actual city sidewalk. And since all the catered dining facilites will be located in the Health Now building, those same employees will never have to leave the building to walk downtown. Not they would do so regularly anyway, as the building is several blocks from the Central Business District and is not conveniently situated enough to contribute any significant impact to downtown development. That's $100 million in subsidies well spent, wouldn't you say?

I've heard the land was way too contaminated to do anything else preservation wise with it. what can you do with a building that housed coal and gas for decades.

It was the new definition of useless, large unimpressive building thats littered with large scale heavy industrial contaminants right on the water

. It looks funny with the new building behind it. But it could be gone, but I think its rather intriuguing.. and I agree tudor, no imagination used here, but it could be worse!!

Given the phenomenal cost of this project, a design competition would have resulted in a much better contextual outcome. Bizarre is all I can say about the final product.

The site was contaminated. Did National Fuel have to clean up its mess? No, we taxpayers paid for remediation.

This is the most embarrassing addition to Buffalo architecture since someone tore down half the Darwin Martin house for '50s apartment bunkers. Well, it took 50 years to be rid of them and restore the Martin House. Maybe in 50 years we'll be demolishing this mistake and restoring the Gas Works.

The Gas Works facade would have made a fine front door for a big box retail facility. They want a large floor plate and one story. What a missed opportunity for all those people who have a hard-on for Bass Pro.

Hey cry babies i too have my reservations about what was done here but do you like what was there before better? They could have gone to amherst too and canisius could have not purchased there old massive building in hamiln park

Actually I did like what was there before, twenty years ago. Blue Cross was located in a building right on Main Street across from Ellicott Square. I'm certain their employees shopped in department stores and dined at downtown restaurants during their lunch hour. Hell, even now, Health Now's location on Main Street near Canisius College adds a stable workday use and takes advantage of an on-site Metro Rail station. I'm certain employees there were big fans of Dagwood's during their lunch hour. It's unfortunate we are subsidizing their move from a struggling neighborhood to a middle-of-nowhere, self-contained compound off the thruway, especially as it on the dubious assumption that the move will contribute to activity in the CBD. What a joke.

It does look silly.. I would have torn it down myself. OOo ya lets turn it into a museum for the production of natural gas.. you have got to be ^&%$#@* kidding me. Or open air performance space with an intact shell and beaufitully landscaped grounds in our lovely shrinking city. I'm sure they could have moved out of town just as easy as they plunked down $100 mill in this joke of a town.

And after they restore gasworks to an open air patio we can go see JOhn lennon tribute bands there and then go to festivals at Love Canal... won't it be soo grand!!!

I'm not sure how anyone can argue that over 1.000 employees would all prefer to sit within the building that they work rather than get out for some fresh air and have some lunch in the CBD. Just because a building may have some components to self contain, doesn't mean that everyone would do that everyday, all year...get real. Their 3 block walk to main street is certainly not too much of a barrier to keep them from being a part of the CBD. I love how the attitude in WNY has become so negative that when a large project like this is complete, everyone bashes it rather than praises progress which we see too little of in these parts.

Well, if their lunch periods are limited to half hour (which is increasingly standard these days), three blocks IS too far to walk, order, wait for your food to be prepped, eat, and get back on time without irritating the boss. I say this as someone who works downtown, has a fast stride, and has to order lunch at the same time every other downtown office worker is ordering lunch. Have you ever seen the lines at these places?

I'd count myself among those that believe the economic impact (positive) of the business being downtown out weighs any architectural gaff. That being said, I've returned to the picture above a few times, thinking "It really can't be that bad..." but apparently, it is. After the tinted glass...what's next? purple lights around the perimeter? 22 inch rims? bass speakers? curb feelers?

MisterChips - these are salaried workers...not union, time clock punchers. I have seen those lines, and while I'm not talking about daily trips from all 1,000 workers to main st, there WILL inevitably be a positive impact on downtown by having the extra bodies there. The extra happy hour goers, the extra attendees of downtown functions after work, and main st traffic during the lunch hour.

Lanny,

I understand that 3/4's of the workers here have a union contract that limits the lunch hour. Your critique is off base about commenters here.

Agree with others that these new downtown workers will never set foot on a city sidewalk.

As the East side continues to "hollow-out" BCBS was the neighborhood's largest employer. We'll see how long Dagwoods will last.

This is not a win for Buffalo. It's a simple game of musical chairs...NO NEW JOBS!

This may be a case of musical chairs for now, but this move does strengthen our downtown core. I do believe though from previous reports that Health Now was planning to add to their staff once they're into their new building. This may no longer be the case, but I hadn't heard of any changes to the original plan.

Also, I would wonder if any new jobs would come out of Canisius' expansion.

I can assure you that a majority of Healthnow employees eat out of the building or order take out on a daily basis rather than use the in-house dining facility. The same vendor is handling food service at the new building so I would tend to believe that people will continue to go out and support local restaurants in one way or another. And yes, there are a majority of unionized positions in the building with lunch time constraints (usually 45 minutes or an hour), but there are also about 500 salaried and contract employees who work at Healthnow.

david - I can assure that at LEAST one Healthnow worker will certainly step foot onto a city sidewalk probably on a daily basis.

If this project had been within a block of Main Street, it would have been worthwhile. If instead the Trico building had been reoccupied, or the lot across from Ellicott Square on Main built out, or the lot behind Shea's on Pearl Street built out, the city would have had enormous benefit from this project with immediate and substantial increases in foot traffic. Instead good planning was ignored and we lose out on a great opportunity. $100 million for a drive-in, drive-out suburban-style compound is not $100 million in subsidies well spent. We could have had something great.

Just to clarify, only two-thirds of the Gasworks facade was saved. Sometime after the judge issued the order that required National Fuel to preserve the facade for future development, one-third of it disappeared during the night - and no one noticed.

The old facade isn't very impressive at all. All of those arches that look as if they were once openings--were those actually windows at one time?

Maybe they should have just left the facade to stand alone as a sort relic/folly.

David you are a moron. Have you seen the size of blue cross's present building and the new one. any one can see that the new one is much bigger so i'm shure more jobs are a given, you dont add extra space to have it sit empty. In addition with the new expansion by canisius they plan on adding about 500 new students. i'm shure in a new $45 million science center they wont need to hire new computer geeks, mechanics, professors, janitors, security guards ect. so i'm going make a guess that some jobs are made here. oh and dagwoods is going to be just fine. 5000 people go to school just up the street.

Canisius is a non-issue because Blue Cross was definitely leaving their current location one way or another, the only issue was whether they'd choose a new spot in the city or the burbs.

any one can see that the new one is much bigger so i'm shure more jobs are a given, you dont add extra space to have it sit empty

At the time they announced plans for the new building in 2004, Blue Cross said that their existing work force of 1200 would move there. No promise of growth, just retention.

http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2005/04/18/focus1.html?t=printable

Once the building opens in late summer 2007, the healthcare company will be bringing 1,200 workers into the core of downtown Buffalo. Those workers, coupled with the new 350,000-square-foot building are expected to have a $2 billion annual economic impact on the city.

... On the tangible side, BlueCross' decision to move from its home on Main Street to downtown helps both the company and its most immediate neighbor, Canisius College. The genesis of the BlueCross move comes from the company's need for more space and Canisius' own growth plans.

BlueCross' current headquarters, a one-time Sears Roebuck & Co. store, is jammed with workers. "We have 1,200 people working in a building designed for 800," O'Neil-White said.

More recent articles have mentioned a figure of 1300 local employees, so perhaps they've grown at their current location over the past few years and kept squeezing people in.

So it seems David was in the right ballpark to say "no new jobs" result from the new building.

Still, keeping 1200 or 1300 jobs in Buffalo is clearly better for the city than having them leave. How much better, and whether it justified any tax breaks or subsidies given, is one of those things can be debated forever. Too late now either way.