Buffalo Rising Online

City leaders should have demanded with the renovation incentives that teh Hyatt reconfigure there atrium to allow a reconnection of genesee st from main to pearl. Pearl and Main are in desperate need of some life around the hyatt.

I like trees too...but to replace a nice little fountain with a rough looking pine tree is a little odd (as the photo proves). The Hyatt should really take care of cleaning up the inside of their hotel. I hear the NHL teams won't even stay there because the property is in such bad shape. Don't even get me started on the public money that was thrown at Paul Snyder - what a crook. First he doesn't spend any money upgrading his property, neglects it for years, then asks the public to bail him out. Not good.

Nice job Ratso!

I have to agree with downtownjunkie, I personally hate the hyatt and I wish they would convert it to mixed use office/residential, get rid of the atrium and reopen Genessee.

There are three perfect places for a large scale hotel.

The first is at the subway station on what is it Best Street or at the subway station on allen because the Center for Life Sciences needs in integrated hotel to support what their doing.

The second place is right where the Senecas are in the cobblestone district

The third is the Statler which I predict is going to become a priority after the Federal Courthouse is completed.

They Hyatt isnt centrally located anymore. Downtown is moving south into the Cobblestone District & Wharf then east toward the Larkin District.

Converting the Hyatt into a multi-use building would be to the benefit of all of downtown.

oh and as for the fountain....there shouldnt even be an empty lot there....Genesee Street should be there....so no fountain, no tree, no atrium!

That's a huge tree the planted. Must have been $$$, but should save money in repairs. Look at all the problems the city has keeping pools and splash ponds open.

If that tree was there last week and they cut it down and put in a fountain...there would be BR submission about how this tree needlessly was cut down.

Can't win.

WIll they be changing the address of the Hyatt to Two PineTree Plaza?

Last week...More trees downtown

This week...A tree instead of a fountain? WTF!

To tree or not to tree, that is the question.

Buffaloweiner, the fountain/tree issue relates to the FRONT of the Hyatt, the corner of Huron and Pearl. While I agree Genesee should be brought back, you are on the wrong side of the building.

To tree or not to tree, that is the question.

There's absolutely no smart reason why the Hyatt should be given even $1 of taxpayer gifts, grants, loans, or targeted tax breaks.

Same goes for all hotels. The marketplace should be allowed to sort out which hotels succeed and which fail. There seems to be an upswing recently in the hotel business in WNY so hotels should be triving on their own. Even if that wasn't the case and they were struggling, it still would be a very bad use of money we pay in our very high taxes - especially when there's so many other more serious needs.

In the last year alone, the city of Buffalo has forgiven a loan of $8 million to the Hyatt; the ECIDA approved $1.6 million in tax breaks for the hotel; and a funding package of more than $5 million from New York State was granted to the Hyatt to renovate its rooms. This despite the fact that anyone I know who has stayed there in recent years will never do so again.

A pine tree/fountain swap is the least of it.

have to agree the snyder has been feeding at the trough of the convention center long enough..

he could easily convert the hyatt to mixed use residential and hotel like the dulski and not need these constant subsidies

my prefered place is a rewatering of the ohio basin.

1) its historical and marks the south end of the Erie Canal warehouse district. Its where the Erie which transitioned to the Main&Hamburg Canal finally returned to the Buffalo River.

2) If the convention center goes to close to the wharf district or cobblestone district then its going to be landlocked by development just like its downtown location. A convention center needs access to all the amenities of downtown which light rail can provide but it needs room to grow, it needs access to parking, it needs highway access, it needs room to add a conference center and hotel and parking garage to the convention center.

The best site in my opinion would be digging up the Ohio Basin under Father Conway Park which would reveal 3 sides. One side for a convenion, one side for a conference center, one side for hotel and plenty of room for land parking or a garage.

Plus its light rail accessable and equidistant to I-190, the larkin district, lakeside commerce park, cobblestone, wharf, inner and outer harbor and downtown

Thats got to be the next battle of Buffalo, separating the convention center from the hyatt!

This town is Busted!

boy that tree sure would be warm for the winter. maybe they are offering some kind of survivor man suite?

It's a Raddson, for Christ sake

There are many building and properties that are in the way that will probably never be torn down in order for Genesee St to be opened up. 1) Parking lot for the Downtown Post Office; 2) Turner Parking Ramp; 3) Buffalo Convention Center; 4) Hyatt.

The road could be rebuilt at the western end, by tearing down the Turner Ramp and rebuilding it across S. Elmwood Ave behind St. Anthony's, making it taller. That's about it. Don't count on the Convention Center or the Hyatt being torn down. Unless millions of dollars come to Buffalo to build a new Convention Center on the Outer Harbor and a bridge connects downtown for pedestrian and vehicular traffic, I'm sorry it ain't going to happen.

Dagner, yes I know...but with all the expansion those 100 rooms arent going to be enough! They could probably add another 100-200 once the new buidlings go up that are already planned (not including the growth beyond what is currently planned)

Joshua, your right but Genessee Steet is going to have to be a long term plan.

The Convention Centers days are numbered. After the Federal Courthouse is complete ... the entire valuation of the Statler and the Convention Center will change. The Statler will get redeveloped and the site of the Convention Center will be more valuable as office space.

Cant stand Turners location but its not going anywhere for a while but like all things will go eventually and thats just where we should say....genesee street needs to be reopened.

The hyatt needs to stop leeching off the convention center and stand on its own two feet. If it has to go mixed use then it should but the reason the convention center cant expand and has a bad reputation is because snyder is holding it ransom for his hotel.

The lift bridges to the Outer Harbor are already in the process of getting funding

Right now the Buffalo Convention Center is only 100,000 sqft but a new convention and conference center could easily be 400,000 sqft and have a hotel and parking garage. It could have 4x the economic impact at a different location. For me the perfect location is surrounding a rewatered Ohio Basin which was historically the southern end of the South Buffalo Erie Canal Warehouse District. Its a location that is light rail accessible, has access to the larkin district, lakeside commerce industrial park, inner/outer harbor, highways and it wont be choked by development surrounding the cobblestone/wharf district.

Separating the Convention Center from Snyder is going to be a very bloody battle for Buffalo but for thesake of Buffalo it must be won.

It will happen...eventually..some sections wil just happen sooner rather than later.

that looks awful. Like they yanked it out of the woods behind my house. The Hyatt is terrible. That atrium on the main street side is disgusting. There is a nasty film on windows. And there was plywood on the doors forever. Makes main st. look even worse than it is. I really hope he invests that money wisely.