BUFFALO | Development Thread

[Tedious]

Originally Posted by ladsnine

What do you guys think of the green and yellow color scheme? I'm not sure I've seen those colors on a hospital before. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing...

Since this is a children's hospital, anything that makes the building more fun and funky and less hospital-esque is good in my book.

[Tedious]

Houk Lofts Nearing Completion



"Developer Rocco Termini’s Houk Lofts are nearing completion, with residents scheduled to move in this coming weekend. Eighteen of the 22 units have already been pre-leased, a number that Termini tells me is on schedule. Half of the apartments are singles, and half are doubles outfitted with two full bathrooms. All for the lofts are incredibly unique in their own ways thanks to the sensitive incorporation of many of the historic architectural elements that have been preserved. The rooms all retain as much of the original integrity of the building as possible, including oversized fire doors that now serve as decorative conversation pieces"



http://buffalorising.com/2013/09/hou...-new-urbanism/

[ladsnine]

From the photos, the Houk Lofts look GORGEOUS. The design looks like it really plays up the old history of the building and then adds to it with the apartment aesthetics. The windows look incredibly massive, too...talk about light-filled living space. It's kind of ironic that some of them look out onto adjacent corrugated metal walls and such, but the formerly/sort of still industrial neighborhood along the Belt Line is part of the experience, I presume.

Any word on the conversion of the old FWS warehouse on Elmwood? I know the Buffalo Spree signed as anchor tenant maybe 6-8 months ago, planning to move from some random office park in Amherst, but I haven't heard anything since then.

Now if only Rocco would come back downtown with his development projects...the faster more housing gets built, the faster downtown will become vibrant again...

[ladsnine]

Took a walk around the west side of downtown today:

The Graystone
This looks like it will be done soon. It will be 42 market-rate apartments.

The building dates to the Pan-Am Exposition in 1904 and is one of the oldest reinforced concrete buildings in the world (well, the right 2/3 is -- the left third is standard bearing wall brick). It had been abandoned since at least 2001, when there was a partial roof collapse soon after Ellicott bought it.





Rehab of one of the grand old mansions on Johnson Park a block to the west.



250 Delaware Avenue:
I believe here they are doing brownfield remediation on the site of the gas station that was torn down.



Some nice details on the Delaware Court building (built 1917) that will be torn down for the development. Facade will be re-created as part of the new development.



Delaware & Virginia Development

The part on the right is offices for the developer's chiropractor business and on the left, along Virginia St., is townhomes.



Close-up of the townhouse side



Side view



The rear - townhouse side



Rear - offices side



The old carriage house in the rear is being turned into apartments too. The house that Mark Twain lived in during his time in Buffalo (1870-71) was on this site. It was torn down long ago, but this carriage house remains from that time.



Dinosaur BBQ
This building used to be a film storage vault for Universal Studios, built in the 1940s. It was abandoned for many years but is now being renovated into the 8th location of Dinosaur BBQ.



Dino has said they will be reusing the "Universal" globe logo that you see on the front of the building.



The interior. The concrete framing would have been for fireproofing. Film was very flammable.



Buffalo Club Addition

East side of Elmwood just south of Virginia St.



Why is the roof sloped slightly? Is that going to be some type of mansard?

[westcoastperspective]

There's quite a bit of work happening along Delaware and surrounding blocks. Would love to see a few of the parking lots filled in.

[Dr Nevergold]

A new video worth watching:
• Video Link

[ladsnine]

Originally Posted by westcoastperspective

There's quite a bit of work happening along Delaware and surrounding blocks. Would love to see a few of the parking lots filled in.

Agreed, I would love to see as many of downtown's parking lots go away as possible. Only then will it *feel* like a dense and real downtown again. The 250 Delaware development does get rid of a huge parking lot, though, so that's one down. Many more to go.

Speaking of the 250 Delaware development, I live two blocks from the proposed site, so I went to a neighborhood meeting about it on the 1st and they talked about a few of the recent changes. Uniland showed a new rendering of rear of the parking ramp along Elmwood. The major changes are that they are putting in a double-height (21 ft tall ceilings) glass-walled retail space right at the corner of Elmwood & Chippewa, about 2500sf. There will also be a little newspaper stand or something like that next to the Veterinary Hospital.

In terms of small pedestrian improvements, there is a mid-block cut-through on the north side of the building for tours buses and such to park, and they have added a sidewalk to that cut-through so that it can be an alleyway for pedestrians as well, not only cars and buses. Also, they are putting in a new canopy on the Elmwood side of the parking ramp to cover the bus stop across from Hutch Tech.

They passed around a sample of the terra cotta screening material they will be using for the lower floors of the office building and for the parking ramp. It is square in profile and the same tan color that the Delaware Court building is. Speaking of the Delaware Court building, they mentioned that through discussions with the Preservation Board they have agreed to rebuild about 50% of the facade including not only the ornamental elements but also some of the storefront elements.

On a side note, you would think that, two blocks from the edge of downtown, the residents would not be so worried about PARKING and TRAFFIC. And you would be sadly mistaken. My god, it felt like I was in a community meeting in the middle of corn fields in East Amherst or something...

Sorry, I don't have copies of the renderings, and as far as I know they aren't publicly available yet.

[westcoastperspective]

Originally Posted by ladsnine

Agreed, I would love to see as many of downtown's parking lots go away as possible. Only then will it *feel* like a dense and real downtown again. The 250 Delaware development does get rid of a huge parking lot, though, so that's one down. Many more to go.

Speaking of the 250 Delaware development, I live two blocks from the proposed site, so I went to a neighborhood meeting about it on the 1st and they talked about a few of the recent changes. Uniland showed a new rendering of rear of the parking ramp along Elmwood. The major changes are that they are putting in a double-height (21 ft tall ceilings) glass-walled retail space right at the corner of Elmwood & Chippewa, about 2500sf. There will also be a little newspaper stand or something like that next to the Veterinary Hospital.

In terms of small pedestrian improvements, there is a mid-block cut-through on the north side of the building for tours buses and such to park, and they have added a sidewalk to that cut-through so that it can be an alleyway for pedestrians as well, not only cars and buses. Also, they are putting in a new canopy on the Elmwood side of the parking ramp to cover the bus stop across from Hutch Tech.

They passed around a sample of the terra cotta screening material they will be using for the lower floors of the office building and for the parking ramp. It is square in profile and the same tan color that the Delaware Court building is. Speaking of the Delaware Court building, they mentioned that through discussions with the Preservation Board they have agreed to rebuild about 50% of the facade including not only the ornamental elements but also some of the storefront elements.

On a side note, you would think that, two blocks from the edge of downtown, the residents would not be so worried about PARKING and TRAFFIC. And you would be sadly mistaken. My god, it felt like I was in a community meeting in the middle of corn fields in East Amherst or something...

Sorry, I don't have copies of the renderings, and as far as I know they aren't publicly available yet.

Good info!

[Tedious]

Originally Posted by ladsnine

Agreed, I would love to see as many of downtown's parking lots go away as possible. Only then will it *feel* like a dense and real downtown again. The 250 Delaware development does get rid of a huge parking lot, though, so that's one down. Many more to go.

Thanks for all the photos. And to think - What you posted earlier is just a small fraction of the work being done around downtown currently.

Apartments at the Hub, The Creamery, Lofts on Main and Allen, Conventus, Cobblestone expansion, HarborCenter, Donovan, Canals, Roswell Park annex...the list goes on. All well under construction. What I like is that a lot of the projects underway are highly visible from the 190. Makes an impact.

There are so many underutilized buildings and parking lots that it will take a ton of development to make the city feel 'big' again. But so much is happening one can't complain

[ladsnine]

I know! I had to pick a piece of downtown to walk around and take photos of because it was starting to get dark and there were just too many projects. A good problem to have, to be sure.

Some more projects for your list: The UB Medical School (construction started this past week), Catholic Health HQ, the Tishman hotel conversion, Main Street reconstruction 600 and 500 blocks and the Planing Mill apartments on Elm. Not quite downtown, but I've also heard the old cardboard box factory on Seneca Street in Larkinville is under construction, though I haven't been over there to check it out.

[Tedious]

Originally Posted by ladsnine

I know! I had to pick a piece of downtown to walk around and take photos of because it was starting to get dark and there were just too many projects. A good problem to have, to be sure.

Some more projects for your list: The UB Medical School (construction started this past week), Catholic Health HQ, the Tishman hotel conversion, Main Street reconstruction 600 and 500 blocks and the Planing Mill apartments on Elm. Not quite downtown, but I've also heard the old cardboard box factory on Seneca Street in Larkinville is under construction, though I haven't been over there to check it out.

Yep, forgot about those. In other development news, I noticed Termini's FWS loft project is also in full gear. Workers on site and window openings cut out. As a refresher:

'The multi-story building, located at 1738 Elmwood Ave., calls for Termini turning the 106,025-square-foot building into a facility anchored by 46 market-rate apartments. Other components in the building, according to documents Termini filed with the agency, include a 7,000-square-foot call center, a 5,000-square-foot tech center, 10,000-square-feet of general office space and a 10,000-square-foot, first floor distillery and restaurant.'



http://www.buffalo.com/news/blog/let...eveloper/48437

[alki]

Originally Posted by ladsnine

Took a walk around the west side of downtown today:

The Graystone
This looks like it will be done soon. It will be 42 market-rate apartments.

The building dates to the Pan-Am Exposition in 1904 and is one of the oldest reinforced concrete buildings in the world (well, the right 2/3 is -- the left third is standard bearing wall brick). It had been abandoned since at least 2001, when there was a partial roof collapse soon after Ellicott bought it.

I can't tell from the photos of the completed renovation....did they paint the facade?

Some nice details on the Delaware Court building (built 1917) that will be torn down for the development. Facade will be re-created as part of the new development.

Very sorry to see them tear down the bldg for the Inland development. I hope Buffalo doesn't live to regret losing that bldg.

[alki]

Originally Posted by Brandon716

A new video worth watching:
• Video Link

Great selling tool for Buffalo. Never knew of all the great architecture and urban design in Buffalo until I saw this clip plus one put out by I think the Buffalo Historic Society.

[ladsnine]

Originally Posted by alki

I can't tell from the photos of the completed renovation....did they paint the facade?

The facade was painted as part of the renovation. This is what it looked like before:



Also, here's a story from 2011 that tells more about the history of the Graystone, before Ellicott Development got serious about actually doing the renovation: http://www.buffalospree.com/Buffalo-...ding-be-saved/
It's had a rough last 30 years.

[westcoastperspective]

There's a nice variety of new residential underway:

Arctic Freezer 27
Cloister Site 12
9 Genesee Street 1
145-149 Swan (The Hub) 50
537 Main Street 3
Tishman 18
TOTAL: 111 units

Planing Mill on Elm is going to start any day now, that's another 25 units. I hear there are three more projects brewing around the 500 block of Main that could bring another 20 or so units. If the economy holds up, we're going to run out of obvious conversion candidates soon. Will new infill construction follow?

[ladsnine]

I've been wondering about that too. All these conversions are happening because the historic preservation tax credit makes financing them viable. What happens when we run out of buildings? We're not too far from that now. Aside from Croce's buildings - the Statler, Curtiss, and the Hertz Garage - that he seems just fine sitting on for eternity, there are very few other large (or even mid-size buildings) downtown that are unoccupied and no one has staked a claim to. AM&A's is the obvious one. The "Boarding House Restaurant" buildings on Seneca by Elm are another, and there is the Ellicott Paint buildings on Genesee. There are also quite a few lovely, forgotten old loft buildings right on Oak & Elm, but I doubt much will happen with those until those streets get "calmed" somehow since they're too dangerous to cross on foot right now not to mention live on. So that's a few, but the numbers are definitely dwindling. Perhaps there will soon be no choice but to fill in the vast lands of parking...we can dream anyway.

[Tedious]

Originally Posted by ladsnine

There are also quite a few lovely, forgotten old loft buildings right on Oak & Elm, but I doubt much will happen with those until those streets get "calmed" somehow since they're too dangerous to cross on foot right now not to mention live on.

Interesting that much of the biggest development is on Elm and Oak, actually. The Hub, Spaghetti warehouse, ECC student housing, and if we're counting commercial, Catholic Health HQ. Seems easy access into and out of the city is winning out over intimate walkeability.

My next hopes are Croce's properties across from Avant. So many tourists in that wide open area and those two dilapidated buildings are front and center.

[westcoastperspective]

Originally Posted by Tedious

Interesting that much of the biggest development is on Elm and Oak, actually. The Hub, Spaghetti warehouse, ECC student housing, and if we're counting commercial, Catholic Health HQ. Seems easy access into and out of the city is winning out over intimate walkeability.

My next hopes are Croce's properties across from Avant. So many tourists in that wide open area and those two dilapidated buildings are front and center.

There should be news soon on the Curtiss and Hertz building projects.

What's really interesting is the development in the 500 block with owner/occupants. Three buildings have owners living in them or soon will. There are also more projects coming on the block (news on a couple soon).

Also, CityView quietly put three apartments in Genny Gateway- story coming on Buffalo Rising.

[ladsnine]

Interesting proposal from the waterfront today:

http://www.buffalonews.com/city-regi...mplex-20131031

Developers plan to transform grain elevator into brewery, entertainment, recreation complex

A grain elevator on the Buffalo River will be transformed into a brewery entertainment and recreation complex, perhaps as soon as next spring.

Developers plan to spend $15 million to convert the inactive eight-acre Wheeler-GLF grain elevator site at 333 Ganson St., located several hundred feet from the General Mills entrance by the Michigan Street Bridge, into a waterfront attraction with bars, restaurants, brewery, entertainment venue and ice rinks. The site is now used to store heavy equipment.

A lot of people on Facebook disagree with me but I think this is a real proposal because:

• They've already filed plans with the Planning Board
• Doug Swift is a reputable developer - When he plans stuff, it tends to get done
• We've been hearing rumors about a third "Pearl Street" for a year now, so this has probably been in planning for a while
• Labatt's has already signed on to have their Pond Hockey Tournament here next February

[ladsnine]

Some photos of projects around the Medical Campus from last Sunday. It was cold and dreary, so they're not the nicest photos. Also it's kind of anti-climatic since things are pretty much just getting started. Nonetheless, enjoy...

Bosche Building Restoration/Mixed-Use Development

In a rare show of initiative, the City of Buffalo put up the money in 2009 to fix the giant roof hole and stabilize this historic building. Now plans are in place with a developer to make both the larger 4-story building to the right and the smaller 3-story one at left into lofts in this location across Main Street from the Medical Campus. Also, the Preservation Board agenda this week included planned exterior restoration work for the Red Jacket Building (the lovely building at the right edge of this photo). Anyway, work continues on the Bosche...



New UB Medical School

In the most dreary photo known to man (or woman), this is the current site of the future UB Medical School - a vast expanse of gray gravel. The old bank demo is complete, but there is no heavy equipment on site, so suffice to say, despite the official groundbreaking earlier this month, construction has NOT started. This project is being done through the State University Construction Fund, and it hasn't even been bid yet (in fact, the official project status per their website is "Design Development"), so it may be a while before we see on-site action here...



Conventus

Sorry, it was hard to get good photos of this because it's at street level right now (they finally finished filling in the giant parking crater) and it's surrounded by construction fencing and jersey barriers.




Roswell Clinical Research Tower Addition

This looks like it must just have gotten started. They tarped over the windows of the older building at left for protection, but there isn't much equipment on-site yet, aside from that crane.



Ellicott Street Linear Park

This little project looks like it's almost done, at long last. They did a pretty nice job.



Interesting rounded benches repeated throughout.



Little "light clusters" playing off the little tree pits. Nice juxtaposition.



Bike box! Slowly but surely, Buffalo is getting better bike infrastructure. The use of a shipping container for the purpose is cool too.



Another view of the walkway design and pattern. Also, that's a BikeShare hub in the distance.



Somehow, the designers made pieces of this park feel sheltered and intimate even though it's located in the middle of a vast expanse of parking.

UB Educational Opportunity Center

This was completed a couple of months ago, but I snapped a couple of photos for posterity.



Connection to the M. Wile Factory building at left.



Looking north along Ellicott.