Buffalo Rising Online

How much did the city pay this company to come to the medical campus in 2001, only to have them jump ship to OP? If they did receive incentives, why can't we ask for them to pay us back for not keeping their end of the bargain?

The problem is our over willingness to demolish and build new in the name of progress. This is a process that often leads to rebuilding cheap; Most buidings built now adays are not planned to be around in 20 years. They are not of the quality in construction or materials to last. Totally opposite of how we used to build cities. It is a consumer culture reflecting itself on our built environment. Why fix a TV ... just buy a new one.

There are far worse buildings in that area than this one. At least its built to the street. With a little work it could be made to fit in with it's surroundings.

Funny how no one ever wants to tear down these kinds of buildings. But give them a Granitworks type streetscape and they foam at the mouth to get the buildings destroyed

I think we have to use reverse pyscology here, get someone to tag the building and knock some bricks off of the fascade and i am sure that the wrecking balls will come : )

"Faux windows"! Pathetic. I think 'Edward Street' is on to something. 2001 is just five years ago. A lot of incentives are spooned out on 5 or 10 year increments (i.e., no property tax). A call to the city tax assessor could prove interesting.....

maybe Pano can move in here

Interesting. I always thought that building was vacant!

300miles -

A telling statement indeed!

Is Main Street even the right place for industrial development to begin with? I can understand live-work houring or artists working with metals and machinery, but a factory? I know it's a medical use, but thinking about the worst-case scenario, would the zoning allow it to be replaced by ... oh, a widget manufacturer?

Some great brick buildings (Savage Printing, I think) were demolished to make way for Minrad's mess.

I don't like to be negative, but let me say what others seem to be hinting at. This building is awful. It is cheap, ugly, and has parking on Main Street.

These guys most likely got incentives to build this thing. They built the cheapest thing they could. The city let them do whatever they wanted. And now they are moving.

Here's my question: If they need space why can't they build or find something in the Medical Campus?? Why can't they contribute to the community, instead of sucking us dry, and moving on?

Does anyone wonder why developers get a bad name?

a city wide planning board review with brains and teeth would be a start to prevernt this from ever happening again. This property borders two historic districts (allen town & Downtown) yet nobody questioned this piece of shit!!!!

honestly, this is probably the worst example of the suburbanization of downtown, and also the quitest. I wonder how much it cost for this to happen without any questioning. Screw those companies who are parasites on corpses.

This buidling needs to go away, period. There is a wonderful block of buidlings from allen...to goddell. Some smart developer would buy this and construct condos....with mixed use. Unfortunatley there are no smart developers....only a-holes that build these shitboxes. BURN IN HELL MINRAD

Suburbanization? Like everything in the burbs is bad. Is it because it doesn't match anything around it? Because it looks like it was made out of Legos? The parking lot orientation? Or just the fact that no thought was put into the process. Take your pick. I have lived outside the city all my life. But after finally getting into the city, reading the posts about Architecture, and seeing REAL buildings, things outside look boxy and plain out here now.

But I digress. It would be great if someone could do something with the property and still keep the business that is in there now.

First of all, I find it perplexing that a manufacturer of medical equipment is moving out of the medical corridor.

It seems like an ideal situation for such a commodity to be near the very establishments that may use their services and equipment.

If more space is available, I am sure there is expandable room behind the building or simply build a second story. Contrary to popular belief, this type of building is designed to be added on too.

I digress, since it is, apparently, a done deal and perhaps there are plans in the offing for this cinder block testimony of non-originality.

The real tragedy is that with todayis building materials, a building similar in appearance to that of an early 1900is structure is doable.

A perfect example is the new fire station in Swormville (East Amherst). It looks almost, but not quite, like Medina Sandstone but it is in fact, (donit cringe) cinderblock.

The clock tower and high-bay doors for the equipment and emblems create a striking building in an otherwise undistinguishable little hamlet.

So I agree with all of youOeknock this circa 2001 piece of shit into the ground; charge everyone $10.00 to take a whack at it with a sludge hammer and donate the funds to someone worthy of re-creating a building that will compliment the 1900is buildings across the street.

I think it is great that EXPANSION is forcing them out of the building. I also think it is great that the other tenant of the building is EXPANDING into the soon to be vacated space. Two growing businesses in OUR ONE COUNTY.

Equally great is the news that Hydo has apparently chosen a site in South Buffalo to relocate their headquarters from Hamburg and bring 150 existing jobs plus up to 200 new ones into a brownfield site. Beating out Charlotte BTW.

WE ARE ONE COMMUNITY - it is not the 39 sq miles of Buffalo vs the 1900+ square miles in the metro outside of the City.

Sally,

Actually it is. The suburbs have sucked the life out of the city for 50 years. There is no community spirit in that.

One of the main goals of the medical campus is to revitalize the city, not to nurture a company so that it can move on when a better deal comes along.

"Actually it is. The suburbs have sucked the life out of the city for 50 years. There is no community spirit in that."

Maybe the city has been pushing the life out of itself for the past 50 years.

Maybe the city has been pushing the life out of itself for the past fifty years....???? why cause henry ford invented the assembly line? because of robertmosesian geopolitical subdivision? raciallly motivated flight to the subrurbs? urban renewal? steel import subsidies? or how about the easier more quantifiable reasons that are truly buffalo specific...a new stadium in orchard park? or UB moving to amherst? or how about a self reinforcing loathing about our urban core? I will give you that the politics and politicians have done nothing to improve the situation..but WOW what a niave and ill-informed statement.

M@,

You're the one showing naivete. For some reason other cities managed to prosper with the invention of the assembly line. You ostensibly blame the exodus of the steel industry on subsidies while ignoring the fact that while we were making our steel workers the highest paid in the world other countries, like Japan, were investing in technology to improve the steel making process more efficient. When our companies tried to do the same the unions fought it, claiming they were just trying to get rid of workers, and won. The end result, cheaper foreign steel.

Robertmosesian geopolitical subdivision and urban renewal? Two city implemented policies. No argument there. Of course when people move to the suburbs it's because of racism. It could never be that the suburbs give the more bang for their buck.

As far as UB moving to Amherst, blame that on the state of NY. There was no feasible way at the time to put a 25,000 student campus in the city. I really don't know why they put the stadium in Orchard Park, but even that won't kill a city.

You kinda have it with the self-loathing part, but the real killer is the strangling nature of the way the city operates. It is the city with an necessarily bloated school budget. It is the city that regulates businesses to the point that they no longer want to invest in the city. Virtually every problem the city has is of its own making. The real problem of the city is that it believes in its very core, from the politicians to the people, that the way to prosperity is through strict control. That has been the M.O. for the past 50 years, and that is why the city pushes the life out of itself. The suburbs are just the beneficiaries of the city's foolishness.

Ben McD - "the suburbs give the more bang for their buck."

They might give more bang for somebody's buck - but not "their buck". The suburbs have been stealing bucks from cities for over 60 years now. Most people are simply too uninformed to figure out who is paying for them.

Just read a few books on the subject and be better informed.

Who can believe that Buffalo was better managed in 1900 than it is today? Good management cannot compete with the state, federal, and corporate subsidies that suburbs have received.

I'll give one simple example. Houses on my city street are built about every 35 feet. The base rates for my gas, telephone, and electric rates are the same as houses in the suburbs built every 200 feet or 400 feet. Water lines, sewer lines, roads, maintenance, snow plowing.... Much of the suburban sprawl is paid for by people who choose to live in more tightly knit communities.

People need to be better informed. Suburban residents and businesses need to pay their REAL share of the expense of their choices.

Here's some support for Dan Sack's assertions. The author is former Buffalonian Michael Lewyn and he cites various ways in which Buffalonians have subsidized their own decline.

http://verbatim.rutgers.edu/lewyn/archives/000094.html Why Sprawl Is A Conservative Issue

(Apologies in advance for the excess question marks--apparently they should be apostrophes.)

Sorry, here's cleaner copy:

http://user.gru.net/domz/conservative.htm Why Sprawl Is a Conservative Issue

Minrad didn't build this building. The orignal owner bailed on the project while it was under construction and I think it sat vacant for a while. Minrad moved in some time later. I used to live down the street from there I watched the gorgeous 100+ year old brick buildings that used to be there get torn down for this piece of crap.

West Coast, you're too nice to this building. It is a cinder block monument to the city's low self-esteem. It is damning evidence of the City's lack of vision and foresight. It is a remnant of the hopefully final days of the city's desperation and sense of low value.

This building, which would fit nicely across from Video Liquidators at Elk and Bailey, is a blight and should be demolished. Doing better next time is the least we can hope for. Good post, though! It's good to know that such an eyesore is vacant and demo-ready.

It's not vacant. There is still a company in there.