Buffalo Rising Online

First off I will say I am happy that this is happening, big improvement over the eyesore that is in place now. What I do not understand is if the K-Mart is a Benderson property, why don't they take the initiative to improve the K-Mart property themselves?

K-mart's attitude toward how their stores look says a lot about why they are a declining entity

Very true steel, why people shop there is beyond me, but maybe with this new Kohls and the possible Walmart down the road, they will up and leave.

My assumption is that K-Mart has a long-term lease that is below market. If that is the case one would think that the tenant would spruce up the parking lot to attract business. But Kmart makes Walmart look like Bloomingdales. It is a crappy company that hopefully will go belly-up.

Wonder when K-Mart's lease expires.... It is probably where Walmart will land.

All towns and cities require a square foot to parking spot ratio.

So, I don't know what it is in the city, it might be one car park for every 500 sq ft or so.

So, that huge parking lot is most likely what the city required. Not Benderson.

yes..its usually zoning laws that require rediculus amounts of parking for each development. They usually assume max usage for each. I guess assuming everyone will be going out at once to the same places? thus usually leaving them empty most of the time and leaving us with a bunch of spread out development that is pedestrian unfriendly.

Hence why the new mayor is slacking at his JOB, the WHOLE POINT of finishing the Queen City Hub plan was to set the stage for zoning change. Masiello was in the process of working with the office of strategic planning. Has brown done anything to revise our zoning??? I don't think so.

Unfortunately it is the zoning laws that force developers to put in so much parking. Why we have 1970's zoning regulations that make it easier to build a strip plaza than a mixed use structure is insane. People do what the law tells them to do. Sure you won't ever get a developer to remove all the parking but we should not force him to put more than is necessary. Also just because these were huge open lands before doens't means they need huge developments. I agree that this whole area would do some good to get chopped up a little. introduce a couple new residential streets in an already strong area of Buffalo. You won't need to chop down 1000 trees and ruin a greenway to do it. All you need to do is chop up a parking lot.

Again lack of leadership in the city.

I do give Kohl's and Benderson a little credit for at least taking a small step in the direction of urbanism / sustainability. Maybe it isn't big enough but it is better than getting the same thing again.

What's wrong with trying to change something that has proven to be ill conceived and problematic. Disconnected developments, reduces peoples ability to walk places, reinforcing their, oil (car) dependence, which creates obesity, diabetes, isolationism, fear of 'others'. These are what true suburbanism and their respective development schemes have brought upon us. Asking to make this less problematic doesn't mean they are somehow anti-development.

Subaru? Pickup truck?.....sounds like DanielSack has a "Brat"

> yes..its usually zoning laws that require rediculus amounts of parking for each development. They usually assume max usage for each.

Ridiculous minimum parking requirements have their origins in the zoning codes of the 1950s. With the rise of suburban shopping centers, traffic engineers of the day recommended one parking space per 200 square feet of retail space, based on the parking needs for the 10th busiest shopping day of the year. In the 1950s, though, stores were much smaller than they are now, and much more crowded. There was far more inventory in much less space. (Anyone remember how narrow supermarket aisles used to be in the Bells and Super Duper stores of the 1970s, compared to the Tops and Wegmans of today?)

Today, there is far more retail space per person than even 20 years ago. Even at the busiest Wal-Mart in East Jeebus, Alabama, there will still be plenty of parking spaces available on Black Friday. The 1950s-era photos showing crammed parking lots at Southgate Plaza or Northtown Plaza are anachronisms; a flashback to a much different time in retail where AM&As stores resounded with its trademark call gongs, and cold shoppers warmed up with coffee at the nearest Your Host or Four Seasons.

Many communities are now considering maximum parking requirements, or dropping them entirely from their codes. With Buffalo's zoning code mostly unaltered from the 1950s, it's unlikely such reforms will take place anytime soon.

Target in North Buff is uglier and more of a hazard for pedestrians by far than K-Mart

Yes the K'Mart looks more like K-RUD . What is the situation with all the open space on Elmwood and Hertal though? I mean you have a porn shop, a Dougnut shop that is out of business and then this Huge open Space which people seel stuff from on the corner from time to time for when Sabres were in playoffs or summertime for sneakers. Why cant they build something on that Property? Those Corners look so Bad!