Buffalo Rising Online

was the site down for the last 24 hours or did my last comment lock me out about 18 hours than longer than usuall...

yeah same here, the site was completely inaccessible for all day yesterday. Probably just a bug with moving over to the new system.. I can't wait!

I think I am was going down here tomorrow anyhow for the Indie Market.. Maybe I can do both! :)

For me the problem is the price tag and in all this investment we need a few parts that are recognizable, dare I say iconic? I can’t wait to see how big the trap door is for the project. I am under the impression that our developers will settle on mall archetypes and what we are getting is an overpriced streetscape. Not an operating body of concepts to push interaction beyond novelty. Too much of the public discourse revolves around bass pro and meanwhile, this is a 500 million dollar project. Urban planners should be finding as many ways to transcend our magnitude of incompetence as possible. Tomorrow we will find out just how mentally challenged we all are. Again it’s a huge project so lets sell some cars.

wow thats a really cool logo for canalside. i was expecting some 1800's lettering a la 'commercial slip'

I hope to God they finally do something to get rid of that huge, ugly surface parking lot. It smaks of suburbia in what should be an urban oasis right outside HSBC arena and in the shadow of the city's largest office tower.

According to Rich Newberg from Channel 4, the Donovan Building will be saved and converted into a hotel. More info at wivb.com

looks like they're getting rid of the boardwalk

They announced the Donovan skeleton will be added so that it is built to the curb on all 4 sides. This is a sign that they are using their heads and the rest of the news should be good.

however, I should add that the Bass Pro Store will not be on the site of the old Spaulding Mercantile but on the site of the aud (I hope thats a mistake) because the Spaulding Mercantile was at the intersection of the Commercial Slip, Erie Canal and Main/Hamburg Canal.

The other disappointment is that the rewatered ErieCanal and Main/Hamburg are not supposed to have the depth of the original canal but are supposed to be canal like which Im guessing that they must be more shallow because they cant get enough water to flow to keep it from stagnating. I hope its atleast deep enough for a canal barge or small boat.

The site was down a fair amount yesterday - BR wanted to give all of us obsessives a vacation day! Personally, I enjoyed it - took in a couple of movies. The debut of Milk, where Sean Penn gives a performance the level of which I haven't seen since RaChaCha-area native Philip Seymour Hoffman channelled Capote. Then emerging filmmaker Tom Quinn visited the Eastman House with his new film The New Year Parade, which is an amazing mix of a fictional story combined with documentary footage - all filmed in South Philly and serving very much as an homage to that ethnic neighborhood. I talked with him afterward to tell him that it's a film that would resonate strongly in Buffalo - he agreed and will be looking for an opportunity to get it into a film festival. Remember, you heard it here first! http://dryden.eastmanhouse.org/films/tom-quinn-in-person-the-new-year-parade/

Politicians, bureaucrats and public authorities. In other words, people who lack personal responsibility for their actions.

We have learned nothing in 50 years.

Also, corporate welfare is illegal and Empire is being sued in Albany State Supreme Court.

http://blog.jimostrowski.com/?page_id=1110

These people need to step aside. They have failed for many years. Let the real private sector develop this land.

Buffalo Rising's quirky, eccentric performance gives it an endearing, authentic flavor that is truly reflective of its host city. Other placeblogs like Torontoist, Austinist, and Curbed may be more reliable, and may report more development activity, but they are plastc, sterile, and corporate, with none of the genuine realness of Buffalo Rising's classic Packard Bell 486 server and gritty coded-in-Buffalo CSS markup.

I will be organizing a rally of REAL Buffalonians to protest the switchover of Buffalo Rising from his historic format and server to a configuration that will give it the flavor and character of an Olive Garden in suburban Charlotte. Meet up tomorrow at noon in front of the Buffalo-style two-flats at the southeast corner of Elmwood and Forest.

Seriously, I'm looking forward to seeing the plan. I hope it reflects contemporary planning and urban desig practice, and that it stays true to the urban context of the site.

From Business First

"A second 1,000-car parking ramp is slated for the Webster Block, which is currently used for a surface parking ramp. Some ancillary development will also take place on the block, although it will be market-driven, sources said."

Wow! Parking with some ancillary development! That should really drive the revival of downtown.

wow they just showed the new model on channel 4. it looks like benderson designed it... what happened to that big design and planning firm?

why isn't Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn representing the plan anymore? shouldn't they be pitching the master plan?

I really hope the 'powers that be' don't F this up...we've already witnessed Brown's tremendous vision by his Wingate support. Im skeptical already because how many urban planners are on the ECHDC board?? I'd like to know how much input from planners they received on this whole project? UB and other groups created great plans to redevelop key areas around the city (waterfronts, S Buffalo BOA, etc), but didn't contribute to this. The city ignored their reccomendations on the type of construction that should occur along the waterfront by throwing out the Ciminelli design. Maybe more positive things would get done by making planners and developers work together. But who knows, maybe they'll surprise me

Just wait guys, the "Canal Side" plan includes a giant fake mill wheel, some 3000 FREE ramp spaces provided by Joe the Taxpayer at $20,000 a space, and - this is so new - a festival marketplace where local vendors like Spot Coffee can sell lattes.

Oh wait - I almost forgot to mention - parts of the fake Erie Canal representation is elevated eleven feet in the air and will surround a subterranean Erie Canal museum, which is boxed in by a giant glass fish tank (the Erie Canal) that museum patrons will enter via a sub-water tunnel where people can see the native fish above. It's going for the "WOW" factor.

Of course, to make Canal Side a 24/7, 365 day "destination," the Prime Slip will be reconstructed in a historically inaccurate position (but hey, it's close enough) and covered by a glass canopy to keep people from being snowed upon. To sooth weather-weary hearts, the parking ramps will connect directly to Bass Pro so no one has to step on a sidewalk in inclement weather.

The historic street grid that a court-ordered plan mandates be reconstructed in its original configuration will be "tweaked" with wider curb radii and street widths so delivery trucks and tour buses can make turns with ample ease and breathing room.

In case you guys missed all the large steel mills that once "existed" in the fictional heritage of lower Main Street that ECHDC wants to concoct in "Canal Side," don't fret: the plan to make Bass Pro look like a Bethlehem Steel shop remains intact from previously announced plans.

The whole process has been hidden from the public. One word: lawsuit. If we ban together we stop this. I say we picket the event today. And I doubt want to hear from people saying things likez: should we wait until they unveil it. Let's stick to our guns people. Repeat after me "Not on my watch, not in my..."

This is certainly not an ideal plan but it's a vast improvement over earlier plans. The biggest obstacle to ANYTHING getting done is the economic catastrophe going on in the world/country/state. Any significant resistance to this plan (especially a lawsuit) would be the perfect opportunity for the state to bail out and do NOTHING at all (and save some $$$) -- in which case; the way it looks now is the way it will remain for a very long time. Ugh.....

Every project starts with a "plan". Yes, money will not be rolling in so fast these days at is might of a year ago, but if the "people" keep fighting for it, it will happen. From what I saw over July 4th, the "people" want it. Just keep the Lord Byron away from it...[there is according the the picture plenty of room for his podium though....]

"Under the current timetable, the Aud will be demolished by late spring and the Bass Pro store, along with a 21,000- square-foot museum and a 27,000-square-foot retail structure, will debut in late 2010 or early 2011.

Simultaneously, transformation of the Donovan building and construction of a 1,000-vehicle parking garage at the corner of Scott and Pearl streets, will take place.

“The idea is to bring those pieces to market within 12 months of when we get the approvals. The public and private dollars we need to do that are in hand, and we can’t wait to get going,” Levy said.

The first phase of construction is expected to cost more than $200 million to execute, and will be paid for through a combination of New York State Power Authority licensing settlement funds, previously secured federal project dollars, and private investment by Bass Pro and Benderson."

They claim to have the money in hand to do the first phase -- $200 million for the Aud demo, Bass Pro, museum, parking, Donovan rehab, and retail. Maybe they're lying about that, but I doubt it. To me the thing to worry about is the rest of the project, which sounds pretty conditional:

"Additional development on the parcels situated south of Scott Street is anticipated to unfold over the following two to five years. The price tag for those additional projects is expected to cost at least $125 million . . . 'It’s a work in progress. It’s going to be tenant-driven'"

I would love to see a master plan for the entire waterfront so we can avoid issues like we had here last week (hotel). Make a plan that people can get behind and support, build some optimism and hope for the good people of Buffalo. We need something to look forward to during the long, gray months of winter.

I look forward to seeing this unveiled and may check in to see what it looks like while I am in the Keys for the next three weeks.

I think it's a little strange that the designers did not understand how hard the community fought to have an inner harbor plan (commercial slip) historically accurate. Not to render a strong opinion about this here but the gimmicky aspects and the historical inaccuracy of this latest plan seem to indicate they either were not aware or did not care. Personally I don't think a historic recreation is necessary but I hope they steer clear of designing something nostalic that never existed.

It would look a lot nicer with that big ugly bridge in the middle gone

For what they're spending on only one of the three new parking ramps being proposed, the ECHDC could reconstruct every single building in the Canal District exactly as it appeared in 1880.

Yet ECHDC announces the Canal District development is considered the last phase of work and the only one that would be "market driven" (not subsidy driven) - the one portion that actually faces the water and isn't in the shadow of two highways.

Millions of dollars would be spent on parking ramps (for the Sabres, read between the lines) and a maybe a big box shell on the Aud site that will never have a tenant. The historic district's development is an afterthought.

At best, we may get a hotel in the Donovan Building. It's the only progressive consideration on the table with the "new" plan. The proposed parking ramp on the Donovan Block has been shifted closer to HSBC Arena at the Webster Block, where planners consider it more convenient for Sabres patrons.

GRRRR.

I nearly forgot to mention the other proposal straight out of the City of Stupid Development Fantasies Playbook.

Without naming any in particular, ECHDC proposes moving cultural institutions from all over Buffalo to the Canal District. Now there's a new idea! A one-stop shop for Buffalo museums! A museum district on the water!

Just as Uniland proposed in the flopped Outer Harbor development dream...

Gee, if only a place like Paris, France, could be as forward-thinking as the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation... Paris could move the Louvre, the Opera House, and the Eiffel Tower to a single destination district surrounded by parking ramps with ground-floor retail...

Just like the ground-floor retail Larry Quinn promised in the current Sabres parking ramp in the Cobblestone District back in early 1990s...

The only thing sadder than all the development plans we have here are you people.

You want development, action, new buildings, retail retail retail.. but you also want an exact re-creation of all the buildings that were there in 1800.

You want a tourism related destination but anything national (nat'l restaurants, nat'l retailers, nat'l hotels) aren't good b/c they're not from Buffalo and the profits leave.. how horrible

Lets re-create all the streets the way they were 200 yrs ago when ppl walked and drove horse and buggies... so the majority of today's vechicles - r.vs', busses, suvs can't come to the destination.. at least that'll eliminate the need for parking. how asinine

What the hell do you have against businesses trying to keep their clients out of the inclement weather.. good god chrish.. seriously.

And parking... whoa..god forbid you mention the P. word that is essential for modern retail. We're not gonna have a light rail ever so don't mention it. We're a auto oriented area and thats never gonna change... get over it. (chrishawley)

The funny thing about your remarks about the location of this development Chrish and how its "close enough".. is just ridicolous and irrevalent.. and whats even funnier is thats its a reconstruction anyway.. what the hell does it matter we already destroyed what was once there

On a positive note.. here here to the end to the HUGE lot infront of the hsbc areana.. good god what an embarassment

Although I have no money to help develop this site, they either do it my way or its the highway. Just because some developers are spending millions of dollars doesn't mean I get total control over the design. It is taxpayers money going into this project, albeit it goes into most projects.

It's not to late to stop this development and all future development for that matter in this City. We must stop everything people. Wake up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Continue on Elena's new post....'Canal Plans Revealed'