Buffalo Rising Online

Kudos to the whole crew...Russ, Mike, Sara...and everyone else. This is one of Buffalo's most loved buildings! Just wait...repeat. It'll happen!

Now that is impressive!

it was an amazing time, they could have easily fit more people into the buyilding but thye only opened up that main hallway and a few small areas for bathrooms and sit down areas. There were spaces behind the merchandise and food that should have been used as well as a large bay room adjacent to this one to the right. Could have easily fit another thousand people.

I hope if they continue this event at this location, which was a great place that they use any money generated for the revitalization corportation to open a few more rooms and allow more people. I know I would have left with a bad feelings if I bought a ticket and never got allowed it. Learn from this year and make next years even better.

I don't think the Terminal has seen this many people at one time since WWII

Way to go, brewfest organizers and CTRC board!

Wow! Two busy weekends in a row at Central Terminal. Last weekend it was packed with model-train enthusiasts. And they also had a larger-than-expected crowd. I wonder if the success of these events is in any way connected to the interest the general public has in securing the future for this landmark building. I mean, last weekend I was partially interested in acquiring more train stuff for my layout, but a big motivator for me was just going into this amazing building. If the train show had taken place somewhere else, I can't say for sure that I would have attended.

How about some plywood for the 5ish story building across the way from the entrance. That needs to be sealed up before I would say spend more money on ashphalt. Even if you could seal up the top two floors it would be a life saver for making the building renovatable in the future.

The beer fest and the train show were both tremendous events; however I found them both to be very disorganized and chaotic. Does anyone have an email address for the person in charge of planning, I would like to volunteer as a logistics coordinator for future events.

wow, that looks awesome!

The Central Terminal is naturally one of Buffalo's most impressive jewels! As these special events are beginning to reveal there may in fact be many potential uses for this building. Costs of course for restoration to this building are HUGE but well worth the effort. Hats are off to all of those trying to save this building. It's a very worthy cause. Part of Buffalo's future is honoring it's past!

That's an amazing photo, Newell!

I'm going to try to get to Oktoberfest for sure.

Events like these offer hope, keep me here, keep me from calling my buddy in D.C. about a job. Maybe I'm a fool, but I'm a happy fool.

Congratulations everyone on redreaming a vision others before have tried but failed. May the time be right. And may you truly succeed!!!!

Got a neat story about the old Terminal...

There was an old Italian guy that owned the Terminal for about seven years, back about 20 years ago. He got a lot of flack for selling off integral inner pieces to keep the place alive, mortgagewise and the like.

He invited me to lunch one day at the Terminal, and I accepted. He parked his big old Cadilac in the inner garage, and an elevator took us up to a shag rugged James Bondian style loft studio he lived in.

After a glass of wine and a plate of riggotoni-- that's right, his name was Tony-- chubby old guy, earnest as all heck-- anyway, he toured me up the tower, floor after floor, windows galore, looking out on a world so unique.

"What fabulous studios each of these tower floors would make," I said to Tony. He answered "Yes, it's my vision, from arts to business, a new city center."

Strolling down to the main floor, he lamented that it was a tough road he was embarking upon-- keeping the taxes and mortgage was one thing. But worst of all, he said, was the replacement of windows. He said spent 90% of his assets on continual window replacement.

He likened the local thugs to rats who'd come by in the middle of the night every night and rampage his windows-- smash, smash, smash continually.

It looked pathetic...and the old man eventually gave up the goat and left the premises.

He talked about City involvement, non-profits, lenders, etc., but could never make his dream come true. He even paid an old Polish sculptor to design and build the sculpture that sits in front that you see now. Since then both old fellas have passed on.

That was Buffalo then, 20 years ago. This is Buffalo now-- where it seems a new fibre is in mode for citizen action. God Bless that, and let's not lose it.

frankly, I think next year BR.O should be a sponsor *and* we should have a BR.O limo for the day as well. Maybe even a reader contest for vip tix & limo access...

just a thought.

The Central Terminal is the crown jewel of the East Side! There is no doubt many others are saying it too now.Hats off to the CTRC they know how to throw a party!

Looks like the Central Terminal has become our unofficial new convention center :)

It was a great event ! It was a bit cramped but all is well. I wish you would have taken a pic of the guy dressed up like a keg. Funny! -Once ECC takes over the bus terminal for their campus expansion, the city should turn the Central terminal into the new bus depot rather than build a new one. Then, the metro-rail could be extended out to the terminal with the already existing tracts for people to get back-and-forth downtown. Sorry, just dreaming!

Willy Wonka-esque... I love that, Newell, perfect description! Thanks for the great write-up and slideshow.

To address a few comments:

- The front part of the parking plaza will be milled and repaved after Oktoberfest.

- To seal the baggage building and repair the roof is estimated to be around $500K. Repaving is 1/10 that and within reach for us. The $500K is a priority, but you're talking large grant money. We're working on getting it.

- The only interior room that was ready for public use that was NOT used was the baggage check room. Ingress/egress is by one door only and would not suffice for such a large crowd. It was the home of a few train layouts the previous Sunday at the model train show. The other rooms are not ready for public use as yet.

Still Hungover: I am one of a few people who coordinate events at the terminal. These events have drawn far more people than we've ever expected. Any and all help in planning (and especially staffing!) is greatly appreciated. You can email me anytime.

Our apparent "disorganization" stems from lack of volunteers for staffing rather than lack of planning. About a month ago I took on the role of volunteer coordinator and we're beginning to build a larger pool of volunteers, but it's going to take some time to get it to where we'd like it to be. Anyone who's interested in helping out should email volunteercoord@buffalocentralterminal.org.

Also important to note is that the train show was solely a CTRC event. We did all the planning and staffing ourselves. The Brewfest was planned and staffed by Flying Bison and Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center. The CTRC only provided building support staff and people to run our merchandise table.

We're still working on the former dining room area. Hopefully that area can be reopened to the public next year. We certainly could use the extra space!

Newell - nice slideshow. Nice to finally meet you in person!

I'll be the toilets saw a lot of action!

Holy. F-ing. Hell. Those pictures are just amazing. It's incredible what you get when you add "beer" and "Buffalo" in the same equation.

I concur that this is practically the unofficial convention center. Choose character over concrete.

I like the term "Buffalo's Newest Oldest Unofficial Event Venue" :)

I was there, but i didnt see the central concourse clock that had been recovered. Does anyone know anything about where it is?

The more events that are held at central terminal, the more chances are that someone with big bucks will show up and want to invest.

See you at Oktoberfest!

I volunteered for the Buffalo Hearing and Speech Centerat the event and it was a blast. There weren't a hole lot of us, but those that were there did the best we could considering there were 3,000 + people not including the vendors.

As for volunteering with the terminal...all I can say is this: My fiancee and I signed up to help out back when WNED had it's volunteer fair...and no one ever called us to help out with anything. We're still interested and will definitely be e-mailing Derek. :)

Mouse - email received and responded to. Thanks!

Balth - the concourse clock was on display from May 2005 through October 2005, at which point it was relocated downtown to the lobby of M&T Center. We didn't want to leave it in the Terminal during the winter, and it's too expensive and cumbersome to move back and forth each year. Next year it may move out to the Airport for awhile where it will have exposure to an even wider audience! At some point in the future when the concourse has been restored and the Terminal is in use year-round, it will be brought back to it's home in the center of the concourse.

I am curious what state the room needs to be for it to be able to be used by the public. Assuming structurally it isn't going to collapse on you isn't part of these events to open peoples eyes to work that is needed? Perhaps a good floor sweep would have been enough to provide some spill over area for more people.

But you know the building better than I, this was my first time inside it and the concorse looked very nice, I just think maybe more people need to see the bad parts and certainly the more people you can bring in the more chances you have of finding that person with the deep pockets that can throw 500k to shore up the bagage terminal.

Actually for roof repairs and sealing of all the windows it doens't sounds that expensive. We spend millions of dollars all the time without even blinking an eye. Perhpas it is time we started putting pressure on our government officials to spend the money where the public and the city would be best served.

The dining room is structurally solid in that the roof won't collapse, but the interior ceiling material that has been damaged by water still falls from the ceiling. You wouldn't want plaster or a piece of the metal grid that it was sculpted over falling into your beer. That material needs to be removed before the area can be opened to the public.

do you always pay for grunt labor or have you thought about volunteers to scrap and remove debris?

I am not saying that it will work but there are a bunch of pent up architecture students on south campus who, while very busy, may be interested in something different.

Just an idea, if people pick up garbage along the smelly muck along our waterfront I am sure some may rip down plaster.

Except for the removal of the initial 300 tons of debris in the concourse in 2002, which we paid for with the grant money we got to also seal the windows, we have not paid anyone for debris removal.

Everything you see in the concourse and side rooms has been done solely by unpaid volunteers. In the past three years, we've cleaned out all the booths and are reusing them, we've opened up the mezzanine floor, baggage check room and train concourse area for limited public use. Plus, we now have 4 locked side rooms in use for storage of equipment and various and sundry items, and the ticket agent office is being used as our headquarters and meeting room. All of this required many hours of physical labor in broken glass removal, tearing down wire mesh and plaster ceilings and sanding rough surfaces.

We're always looking for additional help. Send them our way!

Volunteer@buffalocentralterminal.org