BUFFALO | Development Thread

[Halovet]

Originally Posted by Wheelingman04

Those renderings are really awesome. I really hope Buffalo gets this tower.

Oh, it will get built alright. The question that concerns me is, will they start scalling down. Seems every major development ends up much smaller than proposed, not to mention the ones that never got started. HSBC in the 60s,only one of three planned. County Building, 22 stories, ended up shorter. Key Center was planned as One tower, 25-30 stories, got moved, now it's 17 and 12. The Casino got cut back after on week, but as I said before, I've got a good feeling about this one. Not every day Buffalo gets this large a project with nobody asking for public funding. I think that's the key.

[Halovet]

Originally Posted by BANKofMANHATTAN

For Halovet:

OH MY GOD! I'M STROKING OUT!

[Halovet]

Originally Posted by steel

How do you come to that conclusion? Half of downtown has been demolished over the past 50 years including one of the most important buildings in all of architectural history. If anything they have been sitting on their hands.

Don't even remember what the subject was steel, and I ain't goin back to look. I remember something potentialy pissed me off, but it's not importent. BANKofMANHATTEN has made me one happy camper with his outstanding renders Lets call the whole thing off.

[Halovet]

Originally Posted by westcoastperspective

Sure did, and it passed 6-3 I believe.

No ideal how happy I am to see I was wrong about the Casino cutback. More encourgment that Buffalo is coming back strong!

[kznyc2k]

Congrats to Buffalo! Let's hope it doesn't get watered down to any height lower than the HSBC tower. Better yet, stretch it even higher so that it fits in with the skyline better, cuz as it is right now, that tower is quite the fattie. It doesn't so much reshape the skyline as it does squat on it. But harping aside this is really good news. Last year at this time there was talk of how 2006 was shaping up to be a good year, and by now I think we can say at the least that it hasn't disappointed! Either way I haven't been downtown in three years by now and this gives me a good reason to visit fairly soon.


Oh and BANKofMANHATTAN, could you ask Cannon to release just one rendering that is the slightest bit realistic? We all know the glass will not look like that in real life.. ya know, it's ok for a building to not be transparent, you don't need to be ashamed of it, alright Mr. Cannon?

[homestar]

Originally Posted by westcoastperspective

The new Federal Bldg. in San Fran uses screens...Though the City Tower treatment looks to be not as heavy

Thanks WCP. It seems like a relatively newer type of feature. I wonder how they stand the test of time, and the reality of blowing leaves and plastic bags. I just hope it doesn't turn into a giant Lint Trap for downtown. lol.

[Halovet]

kznyc2k points out what many of us think. That the tower appears to be wide. One reason why I feel confident that the height won't be lowered. Actually, I'm willing to bet that it was planned taller originally, and may have been already lowered. I wonder if there are many cases where a tower was planned at one height, then made taller?

[believeinbflo]

Here are a couple of pics i took of 285 Delaware this week. For those of you unfamiliar with it, its a 5 story building which will be mostly occupied by M&T



and this is what the final rendering is courtesy of BuffaloRising...

[Halovet]

State AG's office moving to Main Place Tower

Many state agencies relocating offices to new downtown sites

By SHARON LINSTEDT
News Staff Reporter
11/3/2006



Buffalo News file photo
The state Attorney General will take about 40,000 square feet in Main Place Tower, shown here from the lobby of One M&T Plaza.

The state Attorney General's Buffalo region office will relocate to downtown's Main Place Tower next summer.
Patrick Hotung, general manager of Main Place-Liberty Group, declined to comment on the key new tenant, but sources confirmed the state office will leave the Statler Towers late next spring.

"We have been working aggressively to sign new tenants, but I'm not at liberty to talk about any pending deals or parties we're talking to," Hotung said.

The state Office of General Services announced in March that it was seeking nearly 40,000 square feet of space within a four-block radius of Niagara Square for the 95 state lawyers. The state required the new site to be handicapped-accessible and have a loading dock.

The state was seeking a 10-year lease. The state's current decade-long lease at the Statler expires on March 1, 2007, but the agency will extend its stay by several months to allow time for its new offices to be readied.

"We hate to lose them as a tenant, but we've agreed to let them continue operations here as long as necessary," said Statler leasing agency George Hamberger.

The decision to leave the Statler was made before the building was sold to British developer Bashar Issa, who plans an $80 million makeover of the former hotel to a mix of office, residential and hotel uses.

The attorney general's office has occupied nearly 25,000 square feet on the Statler's fourth floor since 1997, and also leases 3,400 square feet of storage space in the building.

The signing is a coup for Main Place-Liberty Group, which was competing with several other downtown landlords for the state agency. The 950,000-square-foot Main Street complex, which includes the Main Place Tower, Main Place Mall and Liberty Building, has a combined vacancy rate approaching 50 percent.

The attorney general's office is among more than a dozen state offices that will move into new quarters over the next year. The Office of General Services is in the process of clearing out the Donovan State Office building, located at the corner of Washington and Scott streets; it will be demolished to make room for redevelopment of Lower Main Street.

Donovan's largest tenant, the state Department of Transportation, will relocate its more than 400 staffers to nearly 80,000 square feet of office space at 100 Seneca St. this month. Ellicott Development, that building's owner, also has signed a lease to house the Department of Parole in the former Courtyard Mall at 460 Main St. in December.

Iskalo Development currently is developing 23,000 square feet of office space for six smaller agencies at the Electric Tower (the former Niagara Mohawk building) at 535 Washington St. That group, which includes the state Liquor Authority, Agriculture and Markets, Public Employment Relations Board and Governor's Office for Employee Relations, will move into the historic building by the end of the year.

No firm timetable has been set for interior demolition and razing of the Donovan Building, but physical review of the structure for environmental hazards is under way. A substantial asbestos-abatement effort will be a key first step.


e-mail: slinstedt@buffnews.com

[Halovet]

Ok, now maybe it's just me, but here we have The State AG's office moving to Main Place Tower, from an Issa owned building. What message would this send to Mr. Issa who is looking for tennents for The proposed City Tower? A State government agency no less. Is it that the state is not in support of the proposel? Conventional wisdom says no, but hey, we are talking Buffalo. Other State offices are moving all over downtown. Why is the state not negotiating space in the new tower? Could it be that the state is afraid Issa's people might ask for some sort of funding? or perhaps it's just my well entrenched paranoia?

[westcoastperspective]

First Amherst is moving forward with plans for a residential complex on the 700 block of Main- they'll tear down the Vernor and build a mix of 100 condos and apartments. Would start work next year.



Halovet- you're over-thinking the AG move. The State is out for the best deal- not what could be the most expensive space in downtown and needs space before 2010. You missed this part:

The decision to leave the Statler was made before the building was sold to British developer Bashar Issa, who plans an $80 million makeover of the former hotel to a mix of office, residential and hotel uses.

The Statler hasn't been maintained very well, or at least, the former owners won't upgrading it. The AG decided to move on and expand. Good news- this opens space on the lower floors that other Statler tenants could move into. Issa had planned to keep offices on lower floors with rooms and residential on top. Anyone that would have been forced to move for the conversion now has an in-Statler option.

The sun is still shining!

[Downtown Bolivar]

The more tennants who move out voluntarily before construction the better. I know this building isn't going to be as drastically made over as the Dulski, but this is still going to be a major renovation and the inside is most likely going to look like a construction zone. In other words it's probaly not the best place for offices until it's finished.

Too bad about the Vernor, but at least now we're getting a building and not a parking lot as was planned before. Another feather in the hat of downtown. Besides, the renovation would have been very expensive--this building was neglected for way too long.

[buffaLOVE]

Originally Posted by westcoastperspective

First Amherst is moving forward with plans for a residential complex on the 700 block of Main- they'll tear down the Vernor and build a mix of 100 condos and apartments. Would start work next year.

Do you know the size of what they are goin to build like height and square feet or are the plans not out yet

[westcoastperspective]

Originally Posted by buffaLOVE

Do you know the size of what they are goin to build like height and square feet or are the plans not out yet

Too early yet.

[Halovet]

Thanks westcoastperspective and Downtown Bolivar. Guess I just paniced. Come to think of it, I didn't take my prozac, LOL! Guess Im just one of those old Buffalo skeptics, done in by all the crooks and incompitent leadership of the past. Im not alone. It's going to take a while for people to trust again. Hell, I haven't trusted these "guyz" sense the 60s, but with all the great news, Im willing to give Brown and his new friends (Issa and Hamberger) a shot. Hey, where's Giambra hideing these days?

[STERNyc]

Originally Posted by Buffalo News

The 950,000-square-foot Main Street complex, which includes the Main Place Tower, Main Place Mall and Liberty Building, has a combined vacancy rate approaching 50 percent.

I find that statistic quite alarming. I also take the news of a state enterprise taking space in this building with a grain of salt. Buffalo has too many public sector jobs, its seems like most of the space occupied in downtown Buffalo with out the name M&T or HSBC plastered on the facade are state jobs which are adding to the high tax burden. I think it would be better if Buffalo greatly shrunk the public sector in both jobs and services, in turn lower taxes and attract private sector jobs and residents who will in turn create a larger tax base and then Buffalo should sensibly return public sector jobs and services.

[sullymon54]

You're right stern, however i think the abundance of jobs has been caused by the same reason the region has too much infrastructure. All the systems we built when the city had twice the population and when many municipalities had projected populations far greater than they ever achieved. Can anyone say right sizing.

[Sulley]

I agree 150% with Stern.

[Rue B]

Heres a few new photos I took last weekend

HealthNow HQs under construction









Infill next to the Ellicott Lofts




Uniland building on Delaware

[kznyc2k]

Originally Posted by Rue B

Suburbancrap-tacular!

(I know I know.. beggars can't be choosers)