It was just Friday that I noticed the lettering for Canisius’ Science Hall building had gone up. An excellent sign of progress for that section of Main Street. With the recent news of the two-way traffic on the 700-block, along with the continued growth of Canisius, The City should really be examining just what it would take to sew the two areas together. Within that area we have already seen the Artspace development unfold, along with KEPA3 on Barker and Fantauzz’s gallery near West Ferry. HOME has also announced redevelopment plans for the northwest corner of Ferry and Main. And like it or not, the Delta Sonic development has become a city unto itself. Then there’s Granite Works, Campieri’s 888, Ira G. Ross Eye Institute, and Literacy Volunteers.
Canisius’ interdisciplinary science center is 237,000 total square feet (170,000 net usable square feet) set on three and a half acres. The opportunity affords the college to bring biology, chemistry, biochemistry, bioinformatics, environmental science, physics, psychology, computer science and mathematics programs all under one roof. The move also affords Canisius to develop new interdisciplinary programs in areas such as bioinformatics, quantitative science, cellular molecular biology, analytical chemistry and neuroscience. All in all the $47,000,000 project is big for the college and is also big for that section of Main Street (no vacant building left behind).
And with the Canisius College expansion onto the former Mount St. Joseph Academy, the campus continues to expand in many different directions. The college has just demolished two school buildings (photo) for green space and parking (short term). Longterm plans are to develop new residential and classroom buildings. Fortunately for Mount St. Joseph Academy, the school successfully secured 15 Jewett Parkway (at Main), the site of the former Central Presbyterian Church.
Canisius’ Science Hall building is currently in the preliminary design and development stage. There is no official timetable for interior rehab. Now that the college is taking care of the ‘Blue’ building… let’s see if they can take care of the ugly blue wall that continues to be an eyesore at the Main/Delavan intersection.