Buffalo Rising Online

SAVARINO IS THE MAN - WE NEED MORE PEOPLE LIKE HIM DOWNTOWN, HE GETS IT DONE!

Wow this looks great. I hope it does wonders for the neighborhood. Like the glass by the way.

Their plan to target biomed tenants will make a lot of sense for a new building there, and that will be much better than the mixed use the guy in the article was wishing for.

RisingDamp - you are the greatest ...sincerely

I still think the design could warrant an additional floor for residential. There needs to be more residential in this area for sure. Hopefully by the time the Main Street rehab goes thru enough phases to reach this part of town, there will be even more momentum, which the streetscape would compliment greatly. Overall this project will remove a huge eyesore on the perimeter of the BNMC, and I agree, why put that overlay transit district in effect if they are not even holding designs to it. Go to Oregon, not only do they have urban growth boundaries, but most design has to be multi-modal and pedestrian friendly.

urbanboarder - why?

There needs to be more residential in this area for sure.

It's within a mile of many existing residential units in several directions. If the medical campus helps raise the demand for nearby residential as hoped, that will help stabalize the existing housing stock north and west of Allentown or on streets off Linwood, and Linwod itself, or possibly in the Fruit Belt. And a little farther, it's easily reachable from housing around Canisius or even Parkside or Univ Heights.

Isn't there still a housing surplus in Buffalo for all types of units other than high-end? Why add more redundant types of units while population is still in a long term decline?

nice replacement of whats there currently, would be nice to add a few stories to the design!

its hard to plastic all those windows in the winter time though...that Tourist Lodge photo could easily pass for C.O.P.S episode somewhere in FLA...

Windows Rock! Nothing feeds the body better then sunlight. Imagine working in an office building with little or no windows. Its painful.

As a nearby resident, I welcome this addition to the area. It is not really downtown, so no need for more stories, and at least it is two high and attractive looking unlike that nastyness across from the Granite Works.

AtwaterLouse, "It's within a mile of many existing residential units in several directions." Hmmm. I used to work at Roswell Park, and the places were fine for a starving grad student like myself but Buffalo should be more ambitious. There are a lot of rich, well-educated people that work in the corridor and Buffalo should have places that cater to them. Some high-end condos in this new building would be a good thing. These people have to live someplace and the Fruit Belt is not it.

This is a fine addition to Main Street especially for this block. I am not one to say develop and just get things done but anything to rid Main of that Tourist Lodge will go wonders to improving the visual conditions of Main from Artspace all the way to downtown. There are fewer and fewer dilapidated structures along this stretch these days and lets hope in a couple more years we can walk along a beautiful Main from Artspace to Sheas.

Then again no matter what gets built unless main street itself gets redone to promote and reinforce pedestrianism then there will never be a lively Main Street. What do people say really helped to spark the life for Elmwood... the reconstruction of the street and the widening of the sidewalks. Main street really has become a traffic sewer and a bumpy one at that.

Sure mixed use would be grand but there is still a lot of room on main for projects like that.

Example - What is going on with those two buildings that the roof collapsed on near Allen Street. Perfect for residential conversion if the city would grow some balls and take an easement through the parking lot behind them to throw into the mix for redevelopment.

The Buffalo Tourist Lodge sure is a dump.

yeah well I have to agree with the comments that say this is a huge improvement and kudos to the developer for building to the curb

but I have to agree that lack of 1st floor retail, lack of underground parking is a disadvantage for the building and the area, as well as it being an un-inspired design

Lastly I would have thought that after 285 Delaware came right out and said that they wished they they had added a few more floors .....one would think that fellow developers would break thru the 2 floor limit.

they could have easily done 1 floor retail, 2 floors office and 2 floors residential or 1 floor retail and 3 floors office

I love this proposal. The building may be short, but at least it's very attractive. And it seems realistic that this could actually happen. Wow, it must be Christmastime!

Anyone know where I can get the "Holland Place.pdf" that is supposed to be at the link in the article? The links are messed up, but the only one that seems unaccounted for is Holland Place. Thanks!

The Perice Building was asking way too much to begin with.. they wanted $2,000 rents. So they aimed too high and had no luck. They recently lowered their rents to 1,500 so I think they will probably get a couple bites at this point but those people need to look at it as an option I think many people still think it is past their range and don't look any closer than that.

The Buehl building... is it even completed yet? I don't know. I know the cafe that was supposed to go on the first floor still isn't there maybe they haven't finished renovations yet. Maybe it is too far East for people to feel safe. (doubt it) but who knows.

I'' have an update on the Pierce Building tomorrow. Buehl's lofts, a few months ago, were fully-leased. However, according to the Holcberg website, one unit is available:

Unit 3D is a two level apartment on the northeast side of the 3rd & 4th floor. 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, 973 sq.ft. and $1195+ a month. AGENT: Annette Falasa @ 716/743-6589

The ground-floor commercial space is available.

Elsinghorst, two blocks east of Buehl and near Michigan Avenue, has at least two of their three units leased (could possibly be full, I haven't checked in with Jean E. in a while). So location really is a non-issue.

I like the design and welcome the improvement to the neighborhood. I would like to reiterate that the Buffalo Tourist Lodge is one of the only hotels in Buffalo that rent rooms to social services organizations like the Red Cross and DSS. When families and individuals are in critical need of shelter and support, the Buffalo Tourist Lodge has always been there to assist. It is unfortunate that these residents will now need to seek assistance outside of the city from hotels in Cheektowaga, West Seneca, and Amherst. This poses a huge problem for people without transportation. The loss of this hotel leaves a huge gap in services for some of the neediest people in the area, I hope that someone from one of the other hotels will step up to fill this critical need.

Looks good - but should have a HUGE barbed wire fence around it considering the area...an entire sweep of the block would be needed to provide safety seeing as its a stones throw away from the Best St gauntlet.

Yes, barbed wire always makes things better . . .

I've walked the area many times with nothing more than hellos and some some questions from inquisitive neighbors.

The stereotypes are very outdated and should be retired with the Zubas. A cul-de-sac in Amherst it is not but neither is it the chaotic barbed wire fence necessitating atmopshere you want to lead the uninformed to believe.

As modern construcion, 1st floor area could be reconfigured for retail once/if the market got to that point.

Keith, You make a realistic point about the FB, and I included that at the end of my list as a "or possibly". And when you say " There are a lot of rich, well-educated people that work in the corridor and Buffalo should have places that cater to them. Some high-end condos in this new building would be a good thing." that's much more upscale than what I thought urbanboarder was saying is "needed". I even noted in my comment "except high-end" about Buffalo's housing surplus.

So I see your point, except I'd wonder if "rich" tenants would prefer mid-town area compared to other options such as those 2000/month apts discussed in another BR article recently or the still vacant downtown units WilliamZ mentions a few comments up. That's why I figured suggestion was for apts in price range similar to those in and around Allentown or around Linden, etc.

Another factor might be biomed type companies being targeted as tenants might not love idea of being in a building that also has residential tenants. That's just a guess.

I really don't think retail aspects of "mixed use" being at all feasible any time soon around there.

Funny how this building sort of looks like every other building. Anybody over there have an original idea? Take a close look at unilands delaware project.............

I really hope those are not little tiny shrubs I am seeing along the base of the building.

My post was in reference to this from above: Gotta start getting some out of town relocations and corporate expansions into these spaces and get these projects filled so developers will have faith to continue on and keep building and perhaps even build bigger.

What flyguy wrote is a great summary of what it would take to increase growth and demand generally in Buffalo.

Gotta start getting some out of town relocations and corporate expansions ...Building from within and using resources within will only get us so far. We really need outside jobs and population to start coming in to push us past what the Buffalo market can do to improve itself. Buffalo needs a 5, 10, 15% growth rate

However I don't think it's likely many businesses from elsewhere will choose NY State for adding jobs enough to even dream of those 5 to 15 % growth rates flyguy mentioned. NYS approach of getting "out of town relocations and corporate expansions" is to keep taxes at or near highest in U.S. then try to bribe companies here using incentives. That can work sometimes, but rarely and for every co lured that way, others leave and even more never consider NYS. Buffalo and Upstate do have some positives and good intangibles (as EricOak says I never say so here I'll say it), but realistically there's many other places they can choose with more business friendly taxes and regulations. Some companies choose Buffalo such as New Era, but not anywhere near enough to get those kinds of growth rates.

I'm not saying the NYS business environment is the only reason for Buffalo's shrinkage and low demand, but I do think it's a huge long term impediment to reversing those trends. Other factors played a role too, as they have across the Rust Belt outside NYS - and many of those factors are still in place too.

Although it's possible for some areas and neighborhoods in Buffalo to overcome these things to varying degrees, it shouldn't be surprising most parts of it haven't been able to.

Who knows - maybe the East-of-Main area brokeleg wrote about could become another pocket of success beating the odds even if our growth rates stay negative. It might involve a lot of "building from within and using resources within" which is very hard but not impossible.

Atwater, I think that a residential component will add life to the area more than 9-5 when the medical campus is active. Mixed use is key, regardless if there are other areas of the city that are vacant. Understandable that Allentown is there, but that is a historical district, and not everyone may find that most attractive. With all of the great architecture on the BNMC, I think making it a mixed use campus would create another unique neighborhood over time. II dont think that the retail component in the Granite Works was an idea that really came to fruition, but if more residential on Main Street is created, that demand may come about. I do agree that biomed companies may be hesitant about that aspect of the development, however I am aiming for the concept of mixed use. It fosters pedestrian activity, and requires one to drive less overall. If more development occurred like this - Delaware Avenue is a good example of the opposite of this - than there would be less driving, pollution, fragmentation, etc. If there are a few activities going on in an area, it is visually pleasing to see, for me anyways. Also, I agree whole heartedly with your last post regarding business costs in the state. I think it was on the news last night, ans someone mentioned it on here last week that NY State has the second highest cost in doing business nationwide, only Hawaii beats us!

I think the height of this building is fair game. If you look at this area there is really nothing consistent about the height of the buildings. Belmont Shelter is a horrible one-story bunker. Art Space is what, six stories? The Eye Institute is two, but Schule's, the great building at the corner, and the set-back medical offices building are several stories.

The building looks fine and is better than many built in Buffalo lately, but adding a story would make good sense in the Big Picture. This is right next to public transit, where densities should be the highest. Also, there really aren't all that many vancant/buildable lots on the BNMC portion of Main Street. If the ones we have are squandered on lower density development, guess where people will look next to expand the Campus? Into the adjacent residential areas.