Buffalo Rising Online

ok, great

I'd rather see high rise condos that would of taken up less space and yet have room for more residences to hold. Wow, we call these suburan style buildings in the urban core "progress", how messed up.

In total agreement with the post above. I wonder how hard the units in a high rise would have been to sell with what I'm sure would have been superior views. It's shocking that the waterfront view is limited in most of these 3 STORY units. But I'm sure there was a littany of ill fated administrative and business decisions for why that wasn't possible. These are the mistakes we can't repeat if we want to pursue the dream for a new Buffalo.

Why would we want high rise condos on the harbor? They obstruct views. High rises do not equal urban progress.

Whose view would they obstruct? The view of the city from the water? Even 2 stories obstruct the view of the harbor from the street. High rise = high density, not necessarily a bad thing

I agree these "townhouses" are sububran an nature and inappropriate for an urban core. Those vast, featurless lawns are an embarrasment.

I would be all for high rises. But..

High rises would have meant more units that would have to be sold. Back when this development was built, demand for living in the urban core was very low. No developer in their right minds would have built highrises.

A city with a robust economy like Toronto has the massive demand to built a wall of highrises along their waterfront. Drive in on the gardiner theses days and that's all you will see, starting all the way out in the burbs and leading downtown.

the real test is how do these high rises tie into the rest of the city or do they turn into faceless garage doors from the street level. Places for business and transit should be developed into any high rise development to capitalize on the money being spend and the density being created.

I might be wrong (probably) but I think the original townhouse concept is urban, like the old row houses. They should be built urban friendly, not like the ones around me. All you actually see IS the garage door. Talk about ugly. some of them look like those Uhaul storage facilities without the security fence

Waterfront Village is overwhelmingly planned as a suburban enclave in the city. The streets do not have sidewalks and the streets themselves are not treated as spaces (as in good city planning) but rather as access-ways to each individual development (each of which does not relate to the one next to it. The streets do not even connect with the adjacent city park! Hopefully the planners working on outer harbor development take a more street (city) friendly approach to their design.

Waterfront is a mess. I also hope that the outer harbor is better planned. What good are mistakes if you don't learn from them?

Let's build a WIFI beach like Sidney, Austrailia!

One way in and out makes me wonder if there was a plan to gate this community - or leave open that possibility.

As a former Toronto resident, I had to look at the hideous high rise development all along the waterfront there. Taller buildings do obstruct more than lower ones, and psychologically they are barriers. Toronto is NOT a model for waterfront development. Townhouses are as urban as any other buildings. Density at all costs is not a prescription for a beautiful waterfront.

I agree with Eric about taller building being an obstruction to the Waterfront. They obstruct the view of the lake for buildings that are not built along the shoreline. That is a generally acknowledged mistake that NYC made when they put highrises in lower Manhattan along South Street and Water Street. They act as a wall that divorces the city from its waterfront.

Can't the mistakes with these townhouses be corrected by constructing sidewalks and connecting it to the rest of the city? Has the city retained the same right of way they have with the rest of our houses in all the other neighborhoods?

Valid point on the view. My concern is waterfront access I live here specifically because of the lakes and river. I live on Grand Island. Surrounded by water, but little or no access due to private property. It's awful. We have to compensate for the loss due to the Niagara section by creating as much access in the city. The Niagara river is considered one of the best fisheries in the country, and the access is terrible.

Not to be snotty, but when I lived on the waterfront in the 1990s, we called that development "Abortside."