3. Organizing to Implement the Plan

Activity Downtown: Live, Work and Play

Living Downtown

Living Downtown means that Downtown is a demand area for residence. People living Downtown make it active twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. Mixed-use residential neighborhoods with a full complement of service retail and a full range of units, affordable to luxury, should be the glue that holds together our Medical Campus, Theatre District, Government and Financial Centers, Education Campus, and Waterfront.

The work plan goal and key activities are designed to deliver new diverse Downtown neighborhoods and strengthen the existing surrounding neighborhoods. The strategies identified include: expanding the geography of Downtown while retaining traditional definitions for the Central Business District; focusing on target areas that create high quality design and a critical mass of residential density, connecting strategic investment areas; standardizing incentives to “level the playing field” for all developers; and, delivering incentives only until the market can deliver the needed product without help.

Working Downtown

Working Downtown means office and other commercial space is high quality, in demand, and supports sustained job growth to maintain Downtown as the regional center, not only for government, but for finance, insurance, real estate, law, life sciences, and business incubation.

The work plan goal and key activities are to develop a collaborative and consistent approach to business development and retention in Downtown. The goal includes measuring progress using quantifiable factors such as the size of workforce, occupancy rates, corporate expansion potentials and longevity rates, and the availability of product by type. The strategies include:

1. Consolidate and improve delivery of services and information for potential business locations Downtown;
2. Clarify the demand for and availability of light industrial space within the Western New York region, especially in the smaller floor plate range. Downtown has a surplus of light industrial buildings that can easily be converted to new light industrial space as well as for loft housing;
3. Assure that the Buffalo’s Comprehensive Plan land use strategies for business development are consistent with the realities of contemporary land use demands and define the importance of Downtown locations. All of the city and regional planning efforts need to take better advantage of the positive attributes of Downtown building stock;
4. Market Downtown as the regional incubator for office and light industry and demonstrate its competitive advantages;
5. Reduce the vacancy rate in existing class B and C office buildings by redeveloping strategically located structures for use as residences and work to relocate existing tenants in better locations and facilities;
6. Assemble land for campus settings east of the Downtown Education and Public Safety Campus as well as north and east of the Erie Canal Harbor and Waterfront District to facilitate accommodating demands for future development;
7. Formalize retention, relocation, and expansion support for those who wish to do business Downtown, making the process clear, equitable, and consistent with developing a more diverse and robust Downtown business economy.

Shopping Downtown

Shopping Downtown means residents, workers, and visitors can buy a regionally competitive range of goods – days, nights, and weekends. Retail adds excitement to the street, amenities for tenants, and economic value to building stock because ground floor shops are thriving.

The work plan goal for shopping Downtown is to meet the demand of retail consumers in the workforce, new residential communities, the underserved inner ring of adjacent neighborhoods, and that of visitors of all kinds to Downtown. Some estimates place this combined unmet demand at close to $300 million of buying power a year. The strategies include: concentrate on existing unmet demand; seek opportunities to support retailing through incubators and entrepreneurial training; and coordinate agency support for retail recruitment and retention.

Visiting Downtown

Visiting Downtown means Downtown is “one destination with many attractions” offering something for people of all ethnicities, incomes, interests, and lifestyles. It is user friendly for new and repeat visitors and hotels, restaurants, and entertainment and cultural venues are thriving.

The work plan goals are to understand the needs of visitors to Downtown, enhance their experience, and to encourage increased visits and economic spin-off. Doing this will require us to establish new ways to bring visitors to Downtown as we enhance the experience of existing visitors. Strategies for Visiting Downtown include an aggressive program to: diversify the venues to assure a quality visitor experience for everyone; coordinate venues, events, and marketing to maximize impact; and to establish the signage and interpretation materials that make opportunities to visit Downtown clear and compelling.

• Preface
• 1. Vision
• 2. Achieving the Vision
• 3. Organizing to Implement the Plan
  • Overview
  • Activity Downtown
  • Policies Downtown
• 4. Decades of Progress
• 5. Regional Framework
• References
• Acknowledgements