Priorities - The Vision Has Five Strategic Investment Areas

Erie Canal Harbor and Waterfront District

An ambitious set of initiatives emphasizes development in Downtown Buffalo at the waterfront and in the historic Erie Canal Harbor District at the foot of Main Street. Taken together, the implementation of an emerging Erie Canal Harbor and Waterfront District, the reuse of Memorial Auditorium, the creation of a new inter-modal transportation center, the completion of the esplanade and Naval Park Museum, the development of the nearby Cobblestone District and new housing all promise to transform the historic birthplace of Buffalo.

The cornerstone for development is the Erie Canal Harbor master plan for the 12-acre site that includes the Commercial Slip as the historic western gateway to the Erie Canal and site of the Central Wharf. Though initially surrounded with controversy, we now see progress that will combine basic infrastructure investment for public access, new commercial maritime facilities, and historic interpretation, with ancillary commercial, retail and entertainment developments.

The project will build on and improve existing assets at the site, including the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Museum and Servicemen’s Park with its ensemble of historic naval ships and military memorials. Although construction on much of the project has been delayed to allow for redesign based on public demands to retain the Commercial Slip in its historic location, the creation of a new moorage for the USS Little Rock, USS The Sullivans, and the submarine the USS Croaker, and creation of the “Heroes’ Walk“ was completed in the summer of 2003.

Meanwhile, project sponsor Empire State Development Corporation is continuing work on a revised site plan that will allow the Commercial Slip to be re-watered within its original bounds. The waterfront plaza and a new commercial boat basin are also being reconfigured in recognition of the historic location of the Central Wharf.

The overall project concept depends on creating significant heritage attractions, maritime activity, enhanced waterfront access, and new development to produce a place of activity and excitement. The design includes a continuous pedestrian esplanade and public plaza with unobstructed views of river, historic grain elevators, and maritime traffic. Direct links to rail transit, as well as improved access to the site by car, bus, bicycle, and foot traffic will be provided. Provisions for water taxi, tour boats, transient boaters and “Tall Ships“ in a new South Basin, along an improved bulkhead, and in the Canal Basin of the Commercial Slip will significantly improve access by boat to the Inner Harbor.

A new waterfront esplanade is complete. This recreation path links the entire Inner Harbor development along the waterfront north to the marina and Gull Landing. Regionally the esplanade is part of a 26 mile “Riverwalk“ that extends north from Downtown along the waterfront and east along the Buffalo River linking the evolving Buffalo River Greenway and Industrial Heritage Trail to the path system.

Public investments estimated at over $46 million in infrastructure, direct waterfront access, maritime accommodation, and heritage interpretation will make the remainder of the 12-acre site more attractive to potential commercial development. The plan anticipates over three thousand new jobs in this strategic investment area with well over $100 million of private investments leveraged by the public sector funding currently in place.

A related element of the plan for the area involves the adaptive use of Memorial Auditorium. Public officials envision attracting a major experience-oriented use for visitors.

An inter-modal transportation center is also planned for the area and would ultimately connect Amtrak passenger rail service with NFTA Metro Rail and bus service. The current proposal calls for the Amtrak station to be developed as part of the inter-modal facility with 800 to 1000 parking spaces in a related parking ramp facility. Funding for the ramp project at $16.3 million as well as the $14.5 million for the inter-modal facility is in place.

A subsequent phase of work around the Erie Canal Harbor would involve demolition of the Gen. William J. Donovan State Office Building with relocation of current tenants to office accommodations in the Government and Financial District Downtown. This has the dual effect of reducing the inventory of poor quality office space Downtown and leasing up still more space in the Government and Financial District.

The waterfront development planning will benefit the nearby Cobblestone District, which currently consists of a few blocks of original cobblestone paving and a small ensemble of buildings. But opportunities for development immediately to the east of the Erie Canal Harbor are expansive and some market demand has been demonstrated by the early success of the new Elk Terminal loft apartments.

As The Queen City Hub plan goes to press, the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society (BECHS) is exploring the potential to relocate to the historic DL&W terminal at the foot of Main Street on the waterfront. The move would provide additional space to exhibit more of the BECHS collection and a prime location to enrich the interpretation of the surrounding area with related exhibits including the manufacturing of steel, the transshipment of grain, the Erie Canal, the railroad era, and the war, peace and freedom themes that are already part of the interpretive potential of the waterfront district and Erie Canal Harbor.

The Queen City Hub projects an integrated mixed use waterfront environment connecting an emerging urban village around the Elk Terminal project to the historic Cobblestone District, the Erie Canal Harbor, the Naval and Servicemen’s Park, and 600 units of housing in the Marine Drive Apartments. These developments link with the Erie Basin Marina and future investments north of Erie Street. Urban design guidelines are to be developed as part of plan implementation and should assure the uniqueness of individual areas even as they employ basic principles of pedestrian friendly waterfront access, mixed use programming, and respect for the preservation district and site designations.

Sidebar: Erie Canal Harbor Highlights

Historic/cultural interpretation of the harbor area, new transit plaza, waterfront esplanade, maritime facilities, vehicular and bicycle infrastructure.

Construction of new Veteran’s Park and new Naval and Servicemen’s museum.

Restoration/reconstruction and interpretation of archaeological resources related to Erie Canal.

Links to waterside and landside transportation networks.

Project Schedule:

• Naval Basin & Vessel Relocation: Complete
• Veteran’s Park: Complete
• Supplemental EIS Began: Spring 2003
• Public Information/Review: June, September, and October 2003
• Final Design Begins: Spring 2004
• Start Construction: Fall 2004
• Completion: Summer 2006/07

Sidebar: Inter-Modal Transportation Center and Waterfront Parking Status

Goal: Comprehensive Transportation Facility

Relocates the Downtown Amtrak Station (currently on Exchange Street) providing direct connections to Metro Rail, Erie Canal Harbor, Riverwalk, Greenway Trail System and other transportation modes with additional parking capacity.

Provides supporting 800 car parking ramp facilities to serve the Erie Canal Harbor, Intermodal Transportation Facility, central business district, and associated development projects.

Project Schedule: Memorial Auditorium Site

• Environmental Review: Completed
• Federal Grant Applications: Approved
• 30% Design: Completed

The Memorial Auditorium had been designated as the preferred site for the intermodal center and was to be integrated with a proposed multi-use development with up to 270,000 square feet of entertainment retail. The project is on hold pending the final determination of the remainder of the Auditorium building program. The project team is reviewing the feasibility of relocating the project to the Donovan site to the immediate east.

Project Schedule: Waterfront Parking Ramp

• Completion of Environmental Review/ Preliminary Design: Spring 2004
• Completion of Final Design and Construction Start: Fall 2004
• Completion of Project: Fall 2006

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Downtown Education and Public Safety Campus

The most recently emerging focus area in the Strategic Plan update is a new Downtown Education Campus in the vicinity of current Erie Community College (ECC) facilities in the old U.S. Post Office on Ellicott Street at South Division and the Flickinger Athletic Center one block to the east. County Executive Joel A. Giambra has proposed consolidating the three Erie Community College campuses into a single complex Downtown. If implemented, the concept would bring 8,000 additional students Downtown and see tens of millions of dollars invested in facilities as part of a new campus development. The development concept also includes a proposal for a “public safety campus“ to include training facilities for fire, police and emergency services communications, information systems, and a new forensics laboratory for Central Police Services.

County officials expect that the Erie Community College consolidation could help them avoid anticipated renovation costs at the North and South Campuses totaling nearly $20 million, not to mention the possible proceeds of the sale of either property. In addition, the potential of the project to revitalize an underutilized district of Downtown is substantial. City of Buffalo officials have promoted the idea of building the campus toward Main Street to link it to transit and other activities. Others have pointed out the opportunities to reuse an array of vacant or underutilized buildings to the east. It may be that the demand for space will allow a consolidated Erie Community College campus Downtown to do both, linking westward toward Main Street and reaching eastward toward recent residential developments in the Ellicott District. New investments in the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library further add to the concept of an education campus as part of Downtown.

There are many elements of the emerging campus plan and it is by no means complete. Even so, the vision is to establish a campus environment supporting Erie Community College and a new public safety campus with all their student, staff, and faculty. Other educational venues and attendant retail and commercial office venues are also possible, establishing an important activity center Downtown.

The creation of the concept of a Downtown Education Campus does not preclude educational venues throughout Downtown. The Emerson High School culinary arts and hospitality management programs and their planned expansion in new facilities attached to the Root Building on Chippewa Street are a good example of the mixed-use venues envisioned throughout Downtown.

As The Queen City Hub goes to press, some of the initial explorations of the consolidation of ECC campuses are being explored for financial feasibility and impacts on ECC enrollments into the future. The decision could go either way. Even so, the idea for the Downtown Education and Public Safety Campus remains an important part of the vision. The proposal for a concentration of educational activities does not depend on any one capital effort but rather on a mix of compatible educational programming that will benefit from collocation through shared facilities (library, auditoria, athletic facilities, classrooms, education related retail services, transportation hubs, and more) as well as from its proximity to the residents, employers and employees Downtown. Consideration should be given to additional educational venues in this campus environment including a stronger Downtown presence for local colleges and universities who could “hotel“ seminar and classroom spaces, services, and other facilities in collaborative arrangements.

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Financial District and Government Center

Downtown Buffalo is the financial and government center of Western New York, with primary concentrations of banking, finance, legal, and professional services as well as the largest concentration of City, County, State, and Federal courts and administrative offices in upstate New York. These combined activities constitute the bulk of about 50,000 employees in the CBD and well over 7.5 million square feet of occupied office space they provide the foundation for the continued expansion of entertainment development, residential growth, and retail revival. Indeed, for the first time in eight years, the total assessed valuation of all property in Buffalo increased in 2001 – mainly because of growth Downtown.

Downtown Buffalo is the location of choice for nearly all government offices. Guided by heightened security concerns prompted by the attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. General Services Administration selected a new site for the U.S. Federal Courthouse. Updated security guidelines eliminated a plan to locate the facility on the site of the parking lot on Court Street north of the Fernbach parking ramp. No new federal buildings will be constructed adjacent to public parking structures. But GSA planners still see Downtown Buffalo as the logical site for a “signature“ Federal Courthouse building to open in 2004 and have selected an infill site that will complete the urban fabric of Niagara Square.

GSA is also relocating offices currently in the 492,000 square foot Thaddeus J. Dulski Federal Office Building into a variety of buildings in the Central Business District. The first of such relocations involves the development of a new six story office building at 150 S. Elmwood Ave. The 190,000 square foot building will be the largest new office building in over a decade and expects to lease 61,000 square feet for the Internal Revenue Service. This project is an example of good public policy regarding the development of an inventory of contemporary private office buildings available for lease by government agencies thus assuring the property is on the tax rolls. It is also consistent with The Queen City Hub plan goal to locate new investment in strategic investment areas. In addition, the GSA actions in Downtown balance new construction with renovation activity. For example, the new Federal Courthouse to be built on Delaware at Niagara Square will vacate the Michael Dillon Federal Courthouse on Court Street and that building will be renovated to house other court-related tenants.

In the near term, additional Dulski building tenants to be relocated into renovated existing buildings or new-builds Downtown include the Social Security Administration, military recruiters, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Customs Service. The empty Dulski building will then be either renovated or cleared for future development.

Erie County is also in the midst of an $85 million construction and renovation program for its offices Downtown. The new Erie County Family Court, recently opened on Niagara Street at Pearl, has provided greater dignity and security, as well as spaciousness, to court operations. Renovations of the Old County Hall, the annex at 25 Delaware Avenue, and older offices at 77 W. Eagle Street are pending. Private sector interests are also reinvesting in Downtown office space. Key Center finished the build-out of its South tower in 2000 with the relocation of Delaware North Companies from their old headquarters at Main and Court Streets, and the complex is now more than 85 percent occupied.

The completion of the 67,000 square foot building at 665 Main Street was the first new office space constructed in Downtown Buffalo since 1990. Construction has begun on another new building at Main and Chippewa next to City Centre (three stories- 27,000 square feet). Meanwhile, the law firm of Hodgson Russ recently purchased Louis Sullivan’s landmark Guaranty Building at Church and Pearl Streets. It will become the firm’s headquarters following a $4 million renovation supported in part by historic tax credits and an easement donation of the façade of the building to the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier. There is still more development under construction as Emerson High School expands its culinary and hospitality education program in the newly renovated Root Building at Chippewa and Franklin.

Office space is the productive capital of an office economy. Ongoing investment in buildings in Downtown Buffalo is crucial to maintaining and building the employment base. That employment base, in turn, is important to developing new residential districts Downtown, building a visitor and entertainment economy and building the market for retail and services. Some of the class B and C office buildings Downtown lack the floor plate, floor to ceiling heights, floor load capacity, or parking support to compete in the contemporary market. As a result, the plan strategy calls for the conversion of such buildings to mixed uses and a measured addition of class A space consistent with market demand.

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The Theatre District

Twenty-five years ago, the 600 Block of Main Street was a depressing strip of vacant storefronts, diners, and struggling retail shops anchored by the Greyhound bus station. The Market Arcade was closed and the historic Shea’s Buffalo Theater was a candidate for the wrecking ball. Twenty-four years ago the “Theatre District“ was an idea in a graduate architecture studio at the University at Buffalo and a seemingly quixotic policy initiative embraced by a recently elected Mayor. Today, Buffalo’s Theatre District is an established reality in Downtown Buffalo with multiple live theater and entertainment venues and a still maturing mix of office, residential, restaurant, and institutional uses.

Since the 1999 Downtown Strategic Plan was released the, “B“ District police station was completed, new apartments above the Irish Classical Theater were occupied, a new office building was constructed and opened, and Shea’s Performing Arts Center has expanded to accommodate larger traveling shows, opening more nights and drawing bigger crowds.

Proposals to renovate the upper floors of the building which houses Tent City in the 600 block of Main Street, the Saturn Building nearby on Pearl Street, and the new office building at Main and Chippewa will add further population, activity, and strength to the district. Indeed, there are fewer and fewer buildings or sites on Main Street to redevelop, which means that the next expansion of the Theatre District will need to take place on Washington and Pearl Streets where large parking lots present substantial opportunities.

A revised traffic pattern Downtown combined with a new policy to reduce surface parking will help turn the “backs“ of buildings on Washington and Pearl into “fronts.“ In addition, active first floor uses will be supported by improved multi-modal access to Main Street, created by returning vehicular traffic. Both of these activities provide additional life on the streets and improve access throughout the Downtown, servicing not only the Theatre District but all five of the strategic investment areas.

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Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus

Often, when people hear the phrase “master plan,“ they tend to assume one of the following things: that the effort is far off into the future, that it is filled with lots of promises and hopes unlikely to come to fruition, or that the plan is a good idea but better left to start at a later date. Like The Queen City Hub plan, the master plan for the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC) is not just about starting something. In addition, it is about taking something that is already there and strengthening it, giving it greater vitality and preparing it to flourish into the future.

The “it“ in the BNMC case is a nationally renowned collection of health care, research and educational institutions that are determined to maintain and expand their excellence through increased collaboration. The plan comprises nearly 100 acres of land a few blocks north of the Theatre District. In the spring of 2000, five medical institutions – Buffalo Medical Group, Hauptman- Woodward Medical Research Institute, Kaleida Health, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the University at Buffalo – joined forces to create a world-class urban medical center. The collaborators in the campus are dedicated to supporting clinical, research and academic excellence. The member institutions are improving and adding to the infrastructure of the current medical campus and fostering further economic development opportunities for the region. This could mean as many as 3,000 more employees over the next decade. In order to accomplish its vision, the BNMC Master Plan creates an environment conducive to excellence in education, clinical care, and scientific discovery.

As the institutions constantly seek to improve themselves, advance their work, and maintain and attract talent, so must they also make sure to improve their host community. The Master Plan and Implementation Strategy for the BNMC is about facilitating collaboration, in part through physical planning, but also through the establishment of a forum for collective decisions. As one of the five focus areas in The Queen City Hub plan, the ultimate goal of this endeavor is to help build economic growth and social capital for Downtown. It also strives to create a premier place attracting premier people that can improve the health care of the city, the region and the nation. The BNMC Master Plan is fully incorporated into The Queen City Hub plan by reference.

Sidebar: BNMC Master Plan Principles

Principle 1: Establish a Common Campus Address

Capitalizing on the historic significance of Ellicott Street – named for Joseph Ellicott, Buffalo’s first surveyor and designer of the radial street pattern – each institution can assume an identity along the street. By concentrating new clinical and research development along Ellicott Street, vital adjacencies can be fostered and sites knitted together. A 25-foot continuous setback from the property line along the East Side of Ellicott Street will help foster a common identity and signify an important axis for the campus.

Principle 2: Improve Physical Integration Between the Campus and Neighborhoods

To increase interaction with neighbors to the east and west, the BNMC Master Plan identifies Michigan Avenue and Main Street as “seams“ rather than borders. Commercial and residential development on these streets will help integrate the medical campus with both the Fruit Belt and Allentown.

Fruit Belt:

Michigan Avenue has the potential to become an active commercial street that serves the needs of both the campus and the neighborhood. A mix of commercial and residential development will reinforce the role of Michigan Avenue as a shared asset and not the “back door“ to the campus.

Allentown:

Extending Allen Street through the Allen/Hospital NFTA transit station – past Washington Street to Ellicott Street – fosters east to west connectivity through the BNMC. It is possible to extend the street through the station without demolishing critical infrastructure that supports the station (i.e. elevator or escalators).

Principle 3: Foster Community and Economic Development

The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus is already one of the major engines of Western New York’s economy, and its role will only expand as the campus grows. The major public and private investments planned for the campus will not only have effects on the regional economy as a whole; they will also spur significant opportunities for redevelopment in the immediately surrounding neighborhoods. The campus lies at the edges of three distinct areas: Downtown Buffalo, Allentown and the Fruit Belt neighborhoods. The plan for the Medical Campus recognizes the unique opportunities for and challenges to redevelopment presented by each of these three different areas.

Principle 4: Enhance the Open Space Network

The design of open spaces on the BNMC – in combination with the character of building architecture – will help establish a powerful identity. A collection of distinct open spaces will support an orderly growth of the medical campus by unifying dissimilar building types and styles, greatly enhancing the quality and consistency of the public realm.

This design strategy aims to supplement the public rights of way established along city streets with additional pedestrian-only open spaces and new city streets to facilitate public interaction, pedestrian circulation and development of an attractive campus. If the campus can balance vehicular use and public transportation use, the pressure for wider roadways and more parking can be lessened and buildable land can be maximized.

The BNMC Street Program

The BNMC Master Plan advocates the reinforcement of the three primary north-south streets: Main Street, Michigan Avenue and Ellicott Street. Streetscape improvements will extend east and west along High Street, Carlton Street and Virginia Street.

Main Street

Short-term

Facilitate private development of the 700 and 800 blocks of Main Street

Facilitate acquisition and revitalization of the Red Jacket building at the corner of Main Street and Allen Street

Long-term

Extend Allen Street east into the campus, helping to connect the BNMC to Allentown and the Fruit Belt

Incorporate a tree-lined Main Street median to calm traffic and focus streetscape improvements from Goodell to North Streets

Michigan Avenue

Michigan Avenue is well positioned to become a community-based, neighborhood street. Residents have expressed a need for local shops and commercial developments in this area that can benefit both the neighborhood and the medical campus. The creation of a shared space between the BNMC and the Fruit Belt neighborhood along Michigan Avenue will reinforce the role that the campus could play in terms of neighborhood revitalization and ease the legitimate concern about erosion of the neighborhood. In order to achieve this end, the following steps should be taken:

Short-term

Encourage infrastructure and landscape improvements eastward into the Fruit Belt.

Shield the campus parking areas with additional landscaping and streetscape enhancements.

Consolidate underutilized and available land.

Foster “art-in-public-spaces“ programs with neighborhood art institutions.

Focus commercial development at the intersections of Michigan Avenue with High and Carlton Streets.

Long-term

Explore possibilities for joint-redevelopment projects with St. John the Baptist Church

Ellicott Street

If development along the edges of Michigan Avenue and Main Street provide the physical linkages necessary to tie the BNMC into its neighborhoods, the potential for Ellicott Street lies in its ability to link the medical related facilities along an efficient, interconnected and beautiful boulevard. Capitalizing on this north-south axis will create a “new address“ for the institutions and foster an identifiable campus image by aligning the structures along a single axis. The alignment of research and clinical care facilities along Ellicott alleviates pressure for large-scale, medical related construction along Michigan and Main, promoting spinoff renovation opportunities more to scale with the neighborhoods. In order to achieve this end, the following steps should be taken:

Short-term

Begin relocation of utilities on Virginia and Ellicott Streets to facilitate construction of the Life Sciences Complex (LSC).

Focus streetscape improvements and landscape design initiatives strategically – unique lights, layered building setback, tree plantings and furnishings.

Design BNMC gateway markers and finalize signage and wayfinding plans.

Return Ellicott Street and Washington Street to two-way traffic.

Design Guidelines and Review Process

In 1999, the City of Buffalo Planning Board adopted a Citywide Design and Site Plan Review process. The development of BNMC design guidelines builds upon this work. The addition of these design guidelines helps to underscore the importance of a consistent campus image. A planning council for the medical campus will provide oversight to assure that development is commensurate with the aspirations of a world-class medical center and its neighbors. The area’s 1960 Urban Renewal Plan will be amended to reflect the BNMC design guidelines and included as part of the Master Plan & Implementation Strategy.

Distribution of Parking and Access

Large, single-use parking structures and extensive areas of surface parking disrupt the continuity of the campus, create barriers to adjacent neighborhoods and promote isolation. The solution to this challenge is to capitalize on shared resources and to strategically disperse parking ramps throughout the medical campus. Garages that lie adjacent to residential areas must contain active ground floor uses. Convenient, attractive, and well-managed parking garages are the key to the implementation of the parking plan.

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