Written on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 9:07am by Alan Bedenko | 13 Comments

Architects Say the Hotel is the Pitts

We really didn’t need architects to tell anyone that the proposed Wingate hotel on the Waterfront is shitty. They argue that the addition of a suburban-style hotel on that parcel would “mar the shoreline”, which indeed it would. (Did we really need architects to tell us that?)

As with many projects, the main argument in favor of this project is that it’s “doable” and that it will be attached to the execrable Shanghai Red’s. To everyone who has eaten at Shanghai Red’s, you might as well attach the hotel to an abbatoir as far as culinary excellence goes.

Since we’re all about “doable” and “good enough” and “bare f*cking minimum”, we might as well attach it to an Applebees. We never reach for excellence here, always content to be a third-class city with a storied past, buildings preserved thanks to poverty and flight, clinging to our big city-ness thanks mainly to our two major-league sports franchises.

Arguing about the easy shit like waterfront hotels, bermed highways, and Basses Pro is always preferable to arguing about the difficult shit like Albany and public sector unions and a redundant county government.

Just once, it would be great if the city said “ok” to excellence, and “no” to “doable”. That, however, is hardly the hallmark of the Brown administration, which lurches between political safety and hamhanded Machiavellianism as often as the wind on our waterfront changes direction.

Waterfront Village is already about as suburban as it gets. If you have to get in your car to get a gallon of milk, it’s suburban. K? Build just one thing that breaks the mold near the marina. Let’s make-believe we’re a real city on a real lake, and that we strive for excellence, not mediocrity after mediocrity.

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13 Comments

  1. Ben McD says:
    January 8, 2009 at 11:47 am

    Were there more excellent proposals that the city turned down?

  2. STEEL says:
    January 8, 2009 at 1:29 pm

    Funny, In the past you have argued that mediocrity in urban design was perfectly fine and in many cases desirable.

  3. Buffalopundit says:
    January 8, 2009 at 1:40 pm

    When? I’ve said pick your battles, and I argued with you over such things as Cheektowaga (which ain’t urban).

  4. Andrew Kulyk says:
    January 8, 2009 at 1:40 pm

    Why is Waterfront Village so f-ed up? Because the city never really put together a Master Plan with design guidelines, mixed uses, a contiguous access plan for adjoining waterfront uses. Instead they cast their net for RFP’s for the various tracts of land down there, and what you go is a mix of suburban style townhouses, no commercial uses at all, and a separation barrier (the 190) keeping that neighborhood away from the urban core.

    I laugh when I see the new condos there being sold as “downtown housing”. To participate in any downtown amenities or activities, one must get in a car and drive and park. or traverse across fencing, a railroad bed and under the thruway. I actually walked through a condo at Marina Park last summer during an open house; the owner was there and I remarked “Gee it’s got to be tough just buying a loaf of bread…you guys got to drive all the way to Tops on Niagara.” His reply? “Heavens no! NOBODY from here shops over there…we all go to Wegman on Amherst St!” (So message received — Waterfront Village denizens don’t want to shop for groceries with THOSE people.)

    So point is… live down there and one drives SEVEN mies for a quart of milk or loaf of bread. Insane!

    As to the Hotel That Is The Pitts.. truth be told the Ciminelli plan isn’t exactly a head turner either. What the city needs to do is inventory every last buildable square foot of land in WV, design some cool looking, built-to-the-street structures with retail and commercial uses incorporated into the designs, improve streetscapes and public spaces to give a sense of urban lifestyle, perhaps build some pedestrian underpasses which are bright and cheery and connect this neighborhood into downtown proper. It’s not too late to finish this entire project right. But yeah The Hotel That Is The Pitts has got to go. Kearns and Fronczak get it! Let’s hope the rest of the Council does as well.

  5. Adam K. says:
    January 8, 2009 at 2:40 pm

    I Like Applebees.

    Have you tried the Quesodilla Burger? Delicious.

    For culinary excellence, evict Left Bank and force them to move to the Waterfront.

  6. frieda says:
    January 8, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    What’s your point Andrew. If you lived on top of city hall or in the middle of main place you would still have to drive 7 miles.

  7. wes says:
    January 8, 2009 at 3:09 pm

    “We really didn’t need architects to tell anyone that the proposed Wingate hotel on the Waterfront is shitty.”…”Did we really need architects to tell us that?”

    No, but the AIA has a little more clout and adds credence to the arguement. A lawyer/blogger lecturing the masses on architecture and urban planning is fine and dandy, but a local professional association who’s members are educated and experienced in the field means a bit more. Are you suggesting that the architects’ opnions aren’t germaine or are you just looking for kudos for being one step ahead of the AIA in this bitchfest?

  8. Buffalopundit says:
    January 8, 2009 at 3:15 pm

    Wow. Don’t be a dick or anything, @wes

    My point was that the nastiness of the Wingate proposal was pretty self-evident, and even a blog commenter, apparently, can tell you that.

    Whether the AIA “adds credence to the arguement” may indeed be true. Since I wasn’t mocking them, or referring to their opinion as late or irrelevant, I think you’re overreacting just a smidge.

  9. Chris from OP says:
    January 8, 2009 at 4:10 pm

    I believe that Monty Python has already explored the possibility of a building that doubled as apartments and an abbatoir. (I’d put up a link like a good netizen, but I’m blocked at work)Perhaps Buffalo could employ their services for this parcel?

  10. Mark says:
    January 8, 2009 at 4:14 pm

    chili’s, applebee’s, mcdonald’s, pizza hut = all 9999999x better than shanghai red’s. Sad.

  11. Matt says:
    January 8, 2009 at 5:11 pm

    This is the great failure of so many of our downtowns: doomed to be parking lots where suburbanites visit on the weekends and evenings, vibrant for a few hours here and there, and then returned to an urban desert during the overwhelming down time.

    Somewhere Jane Jacobs rolls over in her grave.

    Where are the lofts or row houses? Where are the bus and train stops? Where are the small corner stores and boutiques?

    Where is the commitment to mixed uses? Where is the knowledge that open space for its own sake is a negative?

    I don’t have solutions, but doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity, urban planning not excluded.

  12. indabuff says:
    January 9, 2009 at 1:32 am

    @Matt a HEARTY AMEN!

 

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