Buffalo Rising Online

i looked at that building for months while it was under construction wondering what the facade would look like and wow. that is ugly. i hope the baker's shoe store doesnt look like that.

Is it better than a vacant building or vacant lot? Yes. Could this have been designed better? You betcha. Better off without Ellicott Development- no way.

SUPPORT IN DEFENSE OF ELENA BUSCARINO

(Deleted by WCP- off topic rant repeated elsewhere)

i love the headline haha. its quite the bunker i must say-very curious to see how the baker's shoe bldg turns out next to it though...it looked like they were gutting it out in may but idk

I agree, great headline. Also, I wonder if the Parole Department being next door will be listed on the brochures for the loft apartments.

That building was ugly to begin with, and anything short of tearing it down and building something entirely new won't make much of a difference. Still, I'd prefer ugly and occupied over ugly and empty.

(deleted- off topic)

I left my opinion (at length) over on my official site:

www.tomfoolery4.wordpress.com

Every Buffalo Rising reader deserves the truth. Can they handle it, though?

yeah the old terracotta that was revealed could have been really nice. It was pretty beat up though and maybe needed to just get covered. Shame I guess, it was very art deco 20's looking even for a plain simple design. Notice the simple implementation of detail into the older building that the new facade totally misses. It doesn't take much to make a boring facade good. He missed the ball 100% on this project for the cheapest quickest fix. Shame really.

I can't wait for the 'press on bricks" to start falling off after a year or two of winters here.

So the incredibly attractive facade of the Main Place Mall wasn't enough, huh? Talk about pug-fugly. What is behind the blank part, a complete floor or just an extension of the first? Couldn't he just have put some fake windows in there just to create the illusion?

It LOOKS like a state office building (think DMV)...from the 1960s!!

win-win for Buffalo...ugly building and parole department smack in the middle of main street! LOL

Civie- you better apologize to pug lovers. :)

Where was this story months ago when the project was being constructed? Could we have made any changes to its looks even if the story was being run at the time of the renovation?

The one to blame is the architect and/or designer for the lack of creativity and main street presence incorporated in the design. Aren't there codes of ethics that they are supposed to follow when it comes to places like this?

Ellicott Development is the same company who extended the Parking Ramp to Huron Steet a few years back. Many fought to keep the four story building at Franklin @ Huron but Palidino promised that the Parking Expansion was going to offer First Floor Retail space and second floor office space..........Look what we got instead. ALL PARKING. And now look at the old Courtyard Mall, A BLANK WALL with (ex) criminals in and out all day.

GDC- That is a city-owned ramp on Huron (Augsburger I think)

there were stories about the before and during its construction. Paladino has his own puppet architects just like Benderson and others, who should really be called value engineers rather than architects. Anyone who wasn't in the pocket of a huge developer would never put their name on something like this because they know sure well that no one would hire them afterward.

GDC is right about the Augsburger expansion. There was a verbal agreement that it would contain first floor retail as a compromise for evicting the tenants and adding more parking into that site. It was also supposed to be a pilot project for ALL future parking garages. Without it they can claim that it is just as impossible as it was 10 years ago. Which isn't true but without examples people don't listen. So remember this the next time a parking garage gets built and they don't want to put first floor retail into it. Thanks Ellicott Development for being a D.B.

whats a d.b?

^Douchebag?

These offices aren't doing anything helpful for the central business district. We want RETAIL, not a bureaucracy.

Why would anyone think putting a PAROL office on the first floor on MAIN St. was a good idea. I cross the street to avoid passing this building, those guys are just as creepy as the ones hanging around the Lafayette Hotel.

Man that is ugly. Think of all the hours the architects, contractors, accountants etc put into....this. All of you people need to wake up. It doesn't have to be this way. You only have one life to live. Do you want to spend it making crap? You are going to be dead one day whether you make nice things or crap, you might as well make nice things so you can be happier when you are alive.

Let's all try to raise our standards a bit. Life can be better.

Man that is ugly. Think of all the hours the architects, contractors, accountants etc put into....this. All of you people need to wake up. It doesn't have to be this way. You only have one life to live. Do you want to spend it making crap? You are going to be dead one day whether you make nice things or crap, you might as well make nice things so you can be happier when you are alive.

Let's all try to raise our standards a bit. Life can be better.

Butt ugly, too bad the terra cotta facade wasn't restored, maybe we could move this to Amherst where it would be at home. ( with the parole patrons)

I've been wondering why more people don't say something like these comments to the elected officials who are responsible for public property, of which there are several glaring examples of poor stewardship.