Buffalo Rising Online

great article, I love how people seemingly forget that things can change, what is there now, is now what always has been and not what always will be. We as designers should understand this in Urban settings.

A great follow up of this would be the parking garage across the street... these two buildings, and their lack of life essentially block (or severely hinder) the activity of Chippewa from ever expanding to and past Main Street.

Its never too late to redesign the chippewa facade of this building.

great post, always been facinated by the key towers. do you know who the architect was?

While the basic point about the Chippewa Street facade of Key Center is substantially valid, the picture is somewhat misleading because it shows only the loading dock areas. There is also a significant public entrance to the building and two large areas of windows, albeit starting at or slightly above eye level, behind which are retail banking operations of Key Bank and First Niagara Bank.

The build out of this site with a single building created some not particularly well resolved grade change issues, because Main Street is/was higher than Franklin, particularly closer to Huron.

The Franklin facade of what is currently the Bank of America building is actually much less sidewalk/pedestrian friendly, having nothing but loading dock doors and masonry wall, with no windows until well above the street level. See also the two story parking ramp at Franklin and Chippewa across Chippewa from Key Center for a less inviting street wall.

Steel the overall point being made in your article is a good one. We should never forget what once was, history is very important.

My issue is the tone your article takes. It comes across as anti-growth or development to me. To think that the overall commercial and economic growth that took place in this area "also contributed some small measure to the revival of that street." is crazy. It was probably one of the driving forces to the revival of Chippewa. The fountain plaza area which consists of M&T, B.O.A and the Key Towers employs thousands of people. These people need places to go to lunch, dinner, happy hour etc... Business men realizing that this area no longer just consisted of prostitues and junkies took a chance and created something great for a bad area of the city. So yes we can look at the building know and say "What were they thinking" but please dont tell me that it was better before.

You also realize that buildings need service enterances. If they would have placed them on the pearl street facade people would be complaining about that also. You cant have everything!

I am just glad this happened when it did, becasue if this was being developed today our buddy Tim T. would have it in court faster than you could have found a prostitute on this once derilict street.

Charger- Franklin? I think you mean Pearl. :)

This article proves that crappy neighborhoods CAN completely change in just a few years.

Very interesting... my parents where always nervous when I went downtown to the Chippewa area because thats where they went to pick up hookers in their day. I've never seen what was there before the key towers and founatin plaza.

I like the slim buildings statement Rpreskop... go to the country for that crap, we are a major city its time to start acting like one... development is development and preservation is called for some times, but is there a question on whether or not we're better of now then we were back then.

Empty buildigs, hookers, and porno theaters... or Class A office space and financial institutions?

Key Center was developed by Citicomm Inc., a Toronto-based developer. They proclaimed at the time that the project wouldn't be their only Buffalo development. Still waiting. They also own the southeast corner of Main and Swan and the site of the former convention center parking ramp behind the Hyatt. Both lots are for sale.

Architect of Key Center- Brisbin Brook Beynon out of Toronto.

http://www.bbb.ca/

Key Center is in their online portfolio of projects.

The items in The Style Shack window look like the same crap being sold in the few Main St. stores today. My how some things DON'T change in this town.

RPrescop,

Did your read the story before commenting? It does not sound like it. Why such anger about a discussion of the qualities an urban environment environment. My story said nothing about building small nor did it reference human scale.

The story is about what is, what was, and what could have been. I can see great value in what was there. I can appreciate the improvement that Key center is and I can envision how much better it could have been. Just because these old Chippewa The neglected for many years should not trigger our hatred of them, and even though what is there now is clean and new we should not accept it is the best we can do.

As for building small, I would like to point you in the direction of a place called Greenwich Village. An absolutely beautiful collection of small old buildings in the heart of our nation's biggest city. If only Buffalo had a place like that - oops! That is right, IT DID! -Torn down for parking lots. Oh well it was old and those parking lots are a sign of great progress. Good thing Tim Tileman was not around to prevent all that valuable surface asphalt progress.

Um STEEL, have you ever been to our own Allentown just north of Downtown Buffalo? I'd definitely compare this neighborhood to our own version of Greenwich Village in NYC. Small, old buildings with a mix of retail and restaurants. Now, BUILD UP DOWNTOWN!

UUm Ross,

Perhaps we should tear down Allentown because it is too much like a small town.

Again, the story says nothing against building up downtown. NOTHING! It does however ask us to make critical judgments about what has been done and what could be done. The Key center Towers are an asset to Downtown but they are by NO means the best that could have been built there. Don't sell Buffalo short. By the way, with the vast stretches of emptiness that currently exist downtown Buffalo does not need to teear down its history to build up

thanks WCP...i've been trying to find who built it for a while

i think the key towers are beautiful in their own way and is buffalo's only major example of PoMo...loved the neon green roof tops since i first saw them when i was 9.

Question for everybody.

Do you think we'd have the Chippewa that we have today if it weren't for Key towers and the other office construction?

Think about what Chippewa was prior to Key Towers and such. Old, fairly unusabl e bldgs.....prostitutes.......disinvestment....ect

These office bldg's brought people.....which in turn created business on Chippewa.

Looking at the grade level doors and not the rest of Key Towers is a bit unfair. How about the first floor retail....or the skating rink....multiple access points? How about all the people it brings to that section of town?

Ask the small business in that immediate area if they'd rather have Key Towers and all the people it brings.....or the older broken down buildings that once were.

Sometimes....urban renewal is a good thing. Sometimes we have to tear down whats old......and build new. Sometimes buidlings just become outdated and unuseable.

Considering Chippewa of today is still geared to the after 10 pm crowd, linking the Chippewa 'revival' to the opening of Key Center may be a stretch.

Ask Mark Goldman if he opened the Calumet in 1990 due to the office workers. I'd be interested in his answer. My bet is that the hotel at Main/Chippewa (underway in 1990, open in 1991) and the investment in the Market Arcade, Sheas and Arcade Cinemas played a bigger role (plus cheap Chippewa real estate prices).

But yes, Key Center is a bigger generator of commerce and foot traffic than what was previously at the site.

What first floor retail? A Donut Shop and a Deli? WOW. ....not impressed.

I only wish that those in power will commission bold designs by significant architects in the future. Mark Goldman's article in one of the latest BRising publication described very nicely the process leading to Klienhan's Music Hall. I hope we can manage to do that now in 2007. Cannon doesn't really cut it and neither does KPF.

What would you like Ross? I cant stand when people just complain about things but never ever have an sugestion. Retail comes in many shapes and sizes and is geared towards the neighborhood. My wife works in M&T Fountain plaza, and she uses the Coffe shop and Deli becasue she needs to eat. She does not really have time to go window shopping for a dress and some art! You cant compare a residential neighborhood to a primarily business area. bottom line downtown retail is dead becasue not many people live there.

We should also keep in mind that these buildings are built for a specific use or specific tenant with certain needs. (shipping/recieving - frieght elevators)

This is a large scale office building. Grade level doors are needed for shipping and recieving. This building would be border line useless without them. So, as ugly as they are, I think the architect did a pretty good job with this building.

But i think this issue comes with most large scale buildings....

Liberty Building, Rand, Brisbane, Hotel Lafayette, Convention center, ect... They aren't always walkable or people friendly.

Great photo, Steel. I never saw this block, having moved here after Fountain Plaza was completed. I, too, am touched by the diversity of uses and storefronts.

I'll bet that these were locally-owned businesses, and that we destroyed them to accomodate one big (out of town?) tenant. Why that is OK is beyond me.

Let's agree on ground rules for urban removal: 1) It is the last resort, not the first one and 2) Strengthen functioning tissue, don't amputate it.

There is nothing to defend as far as quality of business that was there (local or not) and the state of the buildings was very low at the time of this picture. We should however be very careful when we plan our buildings as a defense against the city rather than making them part of the city. I was not involved in this project and do not know all of the issues that the designers had to deal with and It is easy to understand the designer's need to mitigate the negatives of (then) Chippewa. However, I would hope that we can push to have buildings that are involved with the people rather than designed to push them away.

Who are we kidding...Chippewa still has lots of hookers. You just dont have to pay them anymore. Alot of girls that hang out on Chippewa will sleep with anyone who has money.

WCP,

I think that revival of that area has more to with the new construction than not. While most of Chippewa is still geared towards the after 10pm crowd, I'm not sure if this area could have developed into what it currently is without the 9-5 crowd, and their desire for somewhere to go at the end of the day.

Oh, I remember well the old Chippewa. It was a total embarassment to the city. I also remember going into a bar on Chippewa located in an ancient building where the Comfort Inn is now. The men's room was located in the cellar and stank like an outhouse. What a hellhole !! Although I support the preservation movement and even put my money where my mouth is, I don't think that we should look back on everything that used to be while wearing rose coloured glasses.

Hospitable, That's very bold to note that that is where your parents went to pick up hookers. Regardless, I am with the radical fringe of historic preservationists who would like to see this area (as well as the Erie Canal Commercial Slip) turned back to mavens of depravity and licentiousness. Bring back the brothels!

Zen,

Good call! That's exactly what we need! brothels on the waterfront. How about a museum on the waterfront dedicated to the history of brothels in Buffalo. Talk about a way to bring in the tourists! Bring the Kids! Fun for the whole family!

LOL ;-)

I think it has nothing to do with preservation necessarily. This might just be about crafting an experience that is extremely engaging and fun. Whats more engaging and fun than sex? Bring sex back to downtown Buffalo. Leave the kids at home and come downtown.

I remember reading an article somewhere about how in some European city the tv screens in subway stations or Bus stops would play porn after a centain time at night.

Now we are thinking outside the box!

These old pictures remind me of the Fisherman's Wharf building which was demolished down the street on Chippewa.

By the way, I believe the Senecas as a sovereign nation can legally employ prostitutes in our former downtown Buffalo.