Buffalo Rising Online

Yay! Great news for downtown buffalo. This stretch of Main street could definetly use some love. I just hope the 500 block gets some loves as well. :(

Again though, I will bring up the stupidity of the city of Buffalo giving money to Paul Snyder and his Hyat Regency to upgrade and renovate the entire lobby and hotel. The city's so called master plan states the reestablishment of the citys historic radial street plan as an integral part in revitalizing downtown. Where is the public input? Why coudnt the Hyatt recieve the funding with the stipulation that they must reconfigure their lobby to accomodate twoway traffic on genesee street? Genesee street should have never been sold away in the first place. Is there anything we can do to stop this!!!

and the same thing for Mohawk street as well!!! These blocks of Main Street are desolate...I wonder why???

Does anyone know what the building on the corner is being used for? Was it renovated?

the state and county need ELIMINATE SALES TAX on any retail store opened on Main St. - downtown for a certain period of time.

This will serve as a catalyst for development. It can be done.

All we have to do is get Spitzer out of his penthouse condo in NYC, remove the pizza from Hillary's mouth, and yank Charles Schumer out of the sewer and we may get somewhere upstate.

Gaustad- Yes, the corner building, a former McDonalds, was renovated by architects Carmina & Wood. They occupy the top two floors. See this post. It's easy to forget what a mess that building was just a short time ago.

Gaustad,

That corner building, 487 Main, was a great purchase because it has a secret pedigree. Carmina and Wood I'm sure must be aware of this. The building was originally called the Nellany building and it was designed by Milton Beebe, one of our most famous architects. Beebe also designed our Brisbane Building.

BKBM,

Leave it to HUGE to live on the 8th floor of a 6 story building!

Carmina and Wood - did a bang up job on this building, it is really beautiful.

when I moved home 5 yrs ago ( seemed like it was yesterday) I looked at purchasing this building and the attached buidlings including Wendy's.

I belive the asking price at the time was 300k for the entire block. It is a very unique block.

The Carmina buidling has an excellent open lay out on all floors that I wanted to used for one huge loft or two loft apartemtns per floor. Elevator takes you right to your loft. Pretty neat. roof top is very cool with a nice view.

This buidling would also make an excellent call center or executive office space....which is needed downtown.......parking right next door too.

It is a surprise to hear that the bottom floors are not occupied. If somehhow they were able to fill them, a nice retail space or restaraunt downstairs would be easily supported.

I view this as a missed opportunity for myself. It is a great location and will someday be worth a lot of money. I remeber as s kid eating at Wendy's before the train. Main st was packed with people in suits, lot of action there. too bad.

Aside from the fact that the sub way destroyed business on main, I am however shocked that business has never returned. It is a very nice street with the trolly; plenty of room to walk with children, no cars speeding by - very quaint actually.

Main st could be so much more than it is in its current landscape. I sincerely believe if there was an "empire zone" within an "empire zone," sort of speak, Main st would fill up in no time.

Perhaps this is a more economical way to revitalize Main street other than spening another 45 mill to bring traffic back.

Gaustad,

Thats a coincidence because 487 is my "the one that got away" too. I actually put an offer in for their askinig price of $175k and then my agent informed me that the present owners beat my offer to the table by 3 days. I actually gave my agent instructions to present the offer 7 days before that, but it sat on his desk for a week. Things have since worked out for the best so I don't anguish over that one anymore.

Yes, they did a wonderful job with that building. I agree that the pedestrian mall is finally ripe for success, but it will probably be opened for traffic, and that will work out fine as well.

Moving places like the OTB would help that corner. There were always a lot of people just hanging around there making people uncomfortable.

I was just a youngster, but Wendy's I believe also had seating in the basement. Anyone remember?

WCP,

You may be thinking of the MacDonalds at 487. It was a rare "townhouse" design and it utilized the basement and the first floor.

-a

yeah this is a good move for Main street. part if the reason i would guess that Carmina & Wood's first has sat empty since renovation is because of the shear size of the train station. These things take up half a city block and shield the view of what is behind them from the street and trains. if you go to any of the stations, the most struggling lo6king buildings are almost always behind these things. The pedestrian mall isn't the problem it was the poor design of it's features.

I can't tell you how many phone calls I received from friends and clients alike who were upset that we beat them to the punch on our purchase of 487 Main Street. Chris and I are proud of our investment and appreciate the compliments. We are currently occupying the fifth and sixth floors and have grown from a firm of 12 or 13 when we moved in to a firm of 17. We credit this to a bunch of outstanding clients and maybe a bit of good karma for our investment in the City of Buffalo. We are currently fitting out the forth floor for my niece Julie Atti, esq., who is starting her own law practice. We are still looking for a first floor retail tenant. The second and third floor are also available. It is unusual space due to the three sided of exposure, which means lots of glass. We are excited to be working with the Martin Group and we hope to generate lots of discussion when we release our conceptual design. Keep an eye on BR because they will have it first!!

Steve

I should note too that the current station will be relocated under the new design concept approximately 150 feet to the south, which will give the Martin Group excellent exposure on Main Street.