Master Plan for Canal Side along the Erie Canal Harbor, Downtown. 725,000 square feet of entertainment, hotel, office, retail and residential uses anchored by Bass Pro.

Details here:

http://buffalorising.com/story/canal_plans_revealed#SlideFrame_0

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Retail Plan

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That covered canal / street is a good move. I hope ice skating on the canals is part of the plan. That would be genius

That covered canal / street is a good move. I hope ice skating on the canals is part of the plan. That would be geniusIce skating was mentioned in the WIVB report. Along with an underwater tunnel through an aquarium filled with Lake Erie fish! :nuts:

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/Canal_side_master_plan_FAQs_20081214

Those fish probably have 3 tails and legs.. :bash:

Hey the lake isn't so bad anymore. The bigger problem I see is getting the maintenance quagmire of the Hamburg Drain (or whatever it's called) figured out and relocated or something. The current Erie Canal Harbor is really nice, but man, does that water raunch.

Didn't a News story on stormwater discharge talk about a Hamburg drain solution? There was a plan to treat the water (or screan it?) someplace inland before it reaches the river. All they needed was money. Hello DC???

Buffalo Needs Federal Money for some Crap.

That would make a nice headline somewhere.

As I recall reading, the whole thing (at least in that portion) runs under the Niagara Thruway (aka major PITA to access) and nobody was really quite sure who owned it or had maintenance responsibilities. Especially considering as it probably predates the Buffalo Sewer Authority? After all it's a combined runoff/sanitary system so it wouldn't fall under them anyways.

More reason to replace it. The Feds used to be big on getting rid of those. Maybe the idea of raw shit coming out of manholes during freak storm events doesn't bother them anymore. Hey, it happens in India and they're probably doing better than us (or at least on a better trajectory) economically.

Anyways we shouldn't be immediately "diving into crap" even though it is a major part of the project here that needs to be fleshed out. Other than that, this is something that if done right could probably turn the tables even on Baltimore. Just scares me having Larry Quinn in charge of it; he'll probably start giving chunks of it away to other cities for nothing, or something. And I really don't like that "Canal Side" sign, either. Though it's better than the Bass Pro billboard(s).

I like the roof-top sign on the building shown in front of the ramp by Marine Drive. Might be a bit distracting for Skyway folks though...

Expect some work to begin Fall 2009.

I like it!

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Proposed Webster Block:

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/3796/canalside16.jpg

Proposed Donovan Bldg. Makeover:

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/8392/canalside15.jpg

Hmm... it's been almost a year since the first post in this thread, and we haven't really heard anything new about the project, apart from the concept drawings included in the draft EIS.

Granted, the EIS is a pretty substantial document that must have taken a lot of work, but when can we expect to see some actual progress on this project? (Not including public investment like the Erie Canal Harbor cobblestone streets, which are not technically a part of this project.)

Wasn't Benderson supposed to announce its list of signed-up retailers months ago?

I like the design guidelines on the Canal Side website (assuming they will be enforced), and the concept drawings look like this will add some urban density to the largely vacant and open area of the foot of Main, but until some private money gets invested, I can't see these as anything other than pretty pictures.