The first glass is on HARBORCENTER’s hotel tower and in a rear rare instance, reality outshines the rendering. With a design that changed with each new rendering released, and there were several over the course of three years, most everyone wondered what exactly the tower would look like particularly when word from the Sabres was that the design was “evolving.”
First envisioned as a precast box with balconies and sloped roof, it changed to a crowned tower with a concave northern elevation, then to a curved Main Street elevation:
The box later returned, this time blue, and finally a mysterious ghostly white rendering:
The panels being installed are in fact green. While it is easy to argue the overall design is clumsy, the tower is shaping up to be a striking skyline addition.
At the project groundbreaking, Wayne London, Principal at Populous and Project Manager for HARBORCENTER said, “The design of HARBORCENTER complements the historic architecture of Buffalo’s canal district while introducing modern architectural materials and elements, including glass and geometric volumes clad in metal panels.”
Populous served as the architect for the project, with GSB serving as associate hotel architect and Mortenson Construction serving as construction manager.
The $172 million project features two full-size NHL ice rinks, a Tim Hortons, (716) Food and Sport, and a five-level, 850-space parking structure. Main Street retail space is coming soon and the 205-room Marriott hotel is slated to open this summer.