Buffalo’s CanalSide district continues to evolve as multiple construction crews, cranes, and heavy equipment dot Lower Main Street and the Inner Harbor. Lieutenant Governor Duffy was on hand yesterday alongside several local leaders including Mayor Byron Brown for a groundbreaking ceremony held for the East Canal, the latest public improvement at Canalside. The $5 million park project that will connect Washington and Main streets sits between the $30 million One CanalSide development and Terry Pegula’s recently started $172 million HARBORcenter project. The park is expected to be completed late this year.
All of this is happening across from the former Aud block which is being transformed by a project designed to re-create Buffalo’s historic canal/waterfront interchange. Explore & More Children’s Museum is raising $6 million for its proposed 40,000-square-foot museum that will also go on a portion of the Aud land.
These projects represent nearly $225 million in construction currently underway within a compact, four-block area of Canalside. With the construction of all of these developments, it is easy to get overwhelmed with awe by the sights and sounds at the Inner Harbor.
With the significant amount of development underway, it is anticipated that within coming months the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation will release an RFP for the ‘South Block’ parcel sitting directly adjacent to the East Canal park and north of Scott Street.
Canalside is expected to host more than 750 events this summer and attract nearly a million people. Those numbers coupled with the other projects are catching the eye of the private sector, Brown said.