Written on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 10:04pm by Mark | 4 Comments

Tonight’s Canalside hearing

The Albright Knox hosted tonight’s Canalside hearing and perhaps this led to a far better attended session with far more important people and far less crazies than the last meeting at Waterfront School behind City Hall last winter.

It was a who’s who of local politicians and developers: Sam Hoyt, Mickey Kearns, Jim Pitts, Rocco Termini and Chris Jacobs were just a handful in attendance.

I had hope for at least some really crazy randoms to come to the microphone during public input time but everyone just thanked everyone else for all their great work and how wonderful it is. I really thought the Marine Drive residents were going to go insane and spew out nonsensical and irrational complaints about the project but everything was calm and polite…and a lot of talking about nothing-but that is Buffalo’s specialty.

The plan has advanced significantly since the last hearing, with Bass Pro designs far more advanced as well as having a far better perception of how the landscape around the canals and cobblestone streets in front of the store will take shape.

My critiques are minimal and easy to deal with:

Its reaching the point where its almost too planned out. Few districts are created by planners or developers or politicians… they form organically, so creating territorial boundaries for so many districts will only set up for disappointment in how those “districts” evolve in relation to the planners expectations. This probably stems from trying to make everyone happy in order to avoid lawsuits as well as over emphasizing its importance to the region.

It seems as if Bass Pro’s design has completely ignored Main Street (this sentiment was echoed by USRT’s Andrew Kulyk, also in attendance). BizJournals reported that Main will have a secondary entrance but no one is talking about Main Street, or the entrances of new buildings facing Main or new landscaping on Main. Bass Pro lives and dies with the canals (and the future parking garage to the west).

But honestly, from being so excited about it in 2004, 2005, 2006, a little less in 2007, and borderline apathetic in 2008 and 2009, I have nothing else to say. The content available is abundant so click around…

WCP’s post tonight
WCP’s post this morning
BizJournal’s coverage

4 Comments

  1. Matt says:
    October 21, 2009 at 2:04 pm

    hey Mark-
    it looks like the canal is no longer passing all the way beneath the skyway (i see a patch of trees there). any idea why? or are those boulders in a waterfall?

  2. Giovanni Centurione says:
    October 21, 2009 at 8:30 pm

    I would like to know if the Developers have other national retailers signed or at least interested in coming here with Bass Pro. My concern is that they are waiting for Bass Pro to come in first and sell that to other big names in retail instead of selling them this area NOW. I’m not saying, fill this area with all big named retailers, BUT we need a bigger draw than a Bait and Tackle shop next to another Spot Coffee and La Nova Pizza. …I’m talkin bout luring other national stores we currently do not have. H&M, Zara, Armani, and so on…. Mixed in with the local stores and restaurants.

  3. elias says:
    October 22, 2009 at 11:45 am

    the one impression i believe most visitors take from here is the lack of corporate investment in the downtown core…names that giovanni has mentioned (well, not quite armani, but i get it..) are essential in the re-branding of our downtown core…you look at similar cities to buffalo…pittsburgh, cleveland, cincinnati, yeah their metro population is twice our size, but i am using the following to compare: cold, former manufacturing hubs, declining population, at least 2 pro sports teams…look up pictures of their central districts on flickr, or google, and they have national brands operating there with cool 21st century signage, makes it very appealing and gives a sense of belonging to an outsider, something they can identify with, something to ease their concern about ‘nothing to do in buffalo’…and speaking of pro sports, i hope the NFL can have a huge presence in this new district, i think it is vital, right now we have the king of corporate america operating in buffalo, and absolutely no presence in the core, the sabres can use a bit more of a presence too, things like larger than life posters off the sides of buildings featuring edwards or owens or evans or ryan miller, you know, a real ‘cool’ factor…pittsburgh has those of crosby and malkin near their new arena construction…of course it makes sense (doesn’t hurt that they’re huuuuge stars either) it would be nice to see at least an ‘NFL store’ in the new development…

  4. Mark says:
    October 28, 2009 at 3:49 pm

    @matt…i dont think water is a significant if any part in the area under the skyway…it is oriented more towards public space-specifically the public market they want

    @giovanni: if the market allows itself, retail will come. it has very little to do with buffalo’s image and nothing to do with the powers that be not trying. I would love for H&M to come to Canalside but I don’t think it wants to afilliate itself with BassPro, same to other fashion retailers although i’m hoping to be proven wrong.

    @elias: i think a bills store is necessary downtown, always thought so, especially a short walk from the sabres store. when canadiens and leafs fans come to town, they ask for bills gear because that is their NFL team. the bills are missing out on a nice market that is already downtown because of new era and the sabres store. an nfl store is interesting, it could work for the same reasons, but less likely. i vaguely remember a bills ticket office at the staler tower when i was very very young (super bowl years).

 

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