Merchants Insurance Group has partnered with the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) in the branding effort of enhanced Main/Seneca Metro Rail stations (northbound and southbound – between Seneca Street and Swan Street) in downtown Buffalo. Merchants got behind the initiative as a way to further strengthen its commitment to downtown, where the company was founded over a century ago in 1918. To this day, the insurance company employs more than two hundred colleagues in WNY.
The station was designed to complement the nearby Merchants headquarters building, right down to the paint color – “Merchants Maroon.” The signs on the stations will be illuminated using solar panels designed and installed by Western New York-based Solar Liberty Energy Solutions Inc., through National Grid. Merchants made similar eco investments nearby, by installing solar panels on its headquarters’ roof.
Other local businesses that worked on the project include Abbey Mecca, RW Painting Inc., Streamline Designs, and ASI Signage Installations.
Scaled-down versions of Merchants’ iconic vertical sign on the front of its headquarters were installed on the side of each station.
“This block of Main Street has been the home for Merchants’ headquarters for more than 90 years” commented Merchants’ President and CEO Robert M. Zak. “Our objective in completing this project is to contribute to the ongoing resurgence of downtown Buffalo.”
The fourth phase of the downtown Cars Sharing Main Street Project, currently underway, is a $22.5 million project that encompasses lower Main Street, between Exchange and Scott streets along Canalside. To learn more about that progress, click here.
Lead image: The occasion was marked with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting by Merchants’ President and CEO Robert M. Zak, and Kim Minkel, Executive Director at the NFTA, along with Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-26) and State Senator Tim Kennedy, Chair of the State Senate Transportation Committee.