Buffalo Rising Online

all these hotels at the statler and dulski and city tower are going to kill the hyatt even if it remodelled....its future is going to converted to 50% residential once all the other hotel capacity gets built.

and there is actually another possible 40 story shoe thats possible. Iskalo wants a 20+ residential tower near the Electic Tower....and my guess is that there is a possibility that another 10-20 floors could be added for office space.

so we are looking at the Seneca Creek Casino to the south, city tower to the north and Iskalo tower to the east no matter which direction one looks the skyline is going to be different.

Now if Buffalo really wanted to national and international branding...with a world class attraction....my advice is to take a section of LaSalle Park and rebuild the most prominant PAN AM Fountains. Its something every city wants and only roughly 5 cities can actually build as part of their history.

Pan Am Fountains?

It took 8 yrs+ to build a little boat slip and a musuem that no one really cares about visiting from outside Buffalo.

I am thrilled there is momentum in most of these other projects, HOWEVER, THE BASS PRO PROJECT WITH THE NEW CANALS LEADING UP TO IT, UNDER THE SKYWAY, WILL NOT BE BUILT FOR A VERY VERY VERY LONG TIME, IF EVER!

Bass Pro is a horrible idea that local politicains have wasted countless hours of time and resources on.

The idea was fist proposed and "approved" already 5 years ago. Demolition of the AUD has not even begun.

In my view, the skyway MUST come down before anything significant is to happen.

SCARTCH THE WHOLE PROJECT, MOVE ON TO SOMETHING ELSE, TAKE THE 35 MILL PLUS AND DO SOMETHING MORE PRODUCTIVE WITH IT!!!

chris69,

You are out of your mind to think that Iskalo would just add 10-20 stories. Its a long shot to build the 20 story tower as it is.

SteveP. That was another standard comment by Chris69. He is obsessed with adding height to buildings. I am guessing he isnt very tall...

The only thing that irritates me about the Health Now headquarters is that a building of that size could have easily been a 25+ story scraper instead of a sprawling, suburban style campus.

But - it is much better than what was there.

Great Year for Buffalo, and a great way to start off the new year! People who think nothing is happening are lying to themselves to make up for something. Sure this isn't the glorious industrial city it used to be but that is fine with me. Slow but steady development in downtown is better than one huge silver bullet (mistake) per decade.

These are peoples homes, this is someones neighborhood. This is the start of a stronger downtown, city and therefore region as a whole.

Remember nothing happens overnight, especially at the scale of the city. Rushing things only means we regret not doing it right the first time. Like going to McDonalds. Its fast, filing and doesn't taste so bad to start but once it starts to digest over the years and you put on weight you realize maybe the fastest isn't the best.

Last year I helped develop and lead the downtown development tours for Old Home Week, and the biggest challenge was deciding which projects we would have to skip - there is so much underway that we just couldn't fit it all in. From time to time I've heard talk - usually in lowered voices - of the 'dark decade' of downtown development in Buffalo, when essentially the only 'construction' activity consisted of demolitions. Well, what a contrast now.

There's no question that our hurting upstate cities need more than downtown development, but nevertheless in this regard Buffalo has great momentum, and the city has a lot to be proud of - a bright spot in a largely gloomy upstate picture. Whatever fever y'all got, please spread it east!

An interesting program on Times Square was on the History Channel the other day.

It showed another example of gov't wanting to demolish everything and replace it with generic new towers only to be fought off by local people wanting to preserve the history of the area even though it became nothing more than a huge peep show and crime area.

Disney was brought on board with the obligation of the city to clean the area up. New zoning was created to embrace what the square once was and we see what it has become today.

Yes we are not NYC. But is goes to show what capitalizing on an area's history and embracing it for future growth can do. Create a plan, find an anchor, execute and bring other buisnesses on. With Canadians strong dollar and cross shopping, the inner harbor vision has a chance to become something special if done right.

Also what kind of taxes ( or pilot) is that sprawling health now development paying? In fact a better question to ask because of all this development how has the Buffalo tax base changed from 2005 to 2006 to 2007?

bison716....the pictures on that website are badd a**. it would be incredible to rebuild almost any of those buildings/fountains but it looks like it would cost a friggen fortune..detail is amazing

Ron R and NoNo - I could't agree with you more - too many people around here are content with mediocrity.

What does "spoken for" mean? Have buyers actually put down deposits and signed contracts? Considering what has been going on in the housing and mortgage markets, are there any guarantees these "spoken for" units will actually house people?

What does "spoken for" mean? Have buyers actually put down deposits and signed contracts? Considering what has been going on in the housing and mortgage markets, are there any guarantees these "spoken for" units will actually house people?

yes

LOL - YOU GUYS ARE TOO FUNNY - I AM SO GLAD THAT PEOPLE ON THIS SITE ARE FINALLY STARTING TO "GET IT."

Now- that everyone realizes that we have a child like affection for a town that resembles a pile of crap- how do we go about making it better?

This town really and truly is broke and a big reason for it is there is VERY LITTLE BENEFIT TO BEING A HOMEOWNER HERE BEWTWEEN THE TAXES AND THE LACK OF APPRECIATION.

Actually one is better off renting in Buffalo.