Buffalo Central Station under Amtrak (Past, Present, Future)

Well that isn't surprising. I have seen a roof up there in good condition brought down by the snow. They get so much snow up there that if you do not shovel the roof it can collapse.

Depew Station was built by NY State, 1980. Might be state owned.

I believe the collapsed roof was at Exchange street, not Depew.

There was some interesting discussion about reuse of Buffalo Central at this thread before all the naysayers chimed in:

viewtopic.php?f=46&t=158020&start=195" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://buffalonews.com/2016/09/20/buffa ... end-rains/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Exchange Street was built by NY Central back in 1956.

More call for using Buffalo Central Station: http://news.wbfo.org/post/higgins-urges ... in-station" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fair use quote:

Higgins also envisions a new train station in Central Terminal as the first step in a larger economic transformation of the city's Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood.

"When you make infrastructure investments, private sector investment follows. It is clear as can be," Higgins said. "While it's true Broadway-Fillmore has been in decline for several years, you can't just forget about it. It's a major piece of Buffalo's history and its future."

Greg, hope you don't mind, I moved your post to the Buffalo Central topic.

Thanks, I thought there was one, but where I posted is what came up first in my search. This is a better spot.

I get that Buffalo is coming back, but I don't think anyone would argue against the fact that it is indeed a delicate growth. This isn't Williamsburg, BK. IMO They should stick to the continuing revitalization of the downtown then slowly build out. Downtown Buffalo is by no means yet a boomtown, and it would benefit the city to fill the vast amount of vacant inhabitable downtown property before starting to build huge loft style housing and hotels and in the middle of a medium to low density and medium-low income residential neighborhood. If nostalgia (because it ain't logic) really wins out here, hopefully they can extend the orphan light rail system to the airport with a stop at Buffalo Central, or for god's sake at least incentivize Uber to come to town.

I think there is plenty of logic to the idea that having revitalization occur in a core urban property is worthwhile. The great benefit at this property is that it can happen in one project as opposed to the more scattershot approach that is natural to an existing urban downtown.

Reviving BCT would have no detrimental effect on Buffalo's ongoing urban revitalization and would probably help support it by removing a blighted area and providing needed developmemt pressure to the commercial real estate market.

Gokeefe I usually agree with you but in this case, having recently visited Buffalo, I just can't. The vibrance of downtown and Elmwood, a near-downtown commercial district bordered by old residential areas, is impresive but not anything that's going to set records. If you start doing developments at BCT, you are effectively doing the same thing the suburbs did 50 years ago - drawing off the action. There isn't a huge action to start with and in a town like this, it's not net-zero but it's not Silicon Valley, either.

Totally understand ...

I was thinking a lot about the ideas as I wrote especially within the context of less than robust ("nascent") urban redevelopment.

One thing that struck me is the downward pressure that vacant areas can have on commercial pricing even if they are not immediately adjacent or readily available for occupancy.

BCT undeveloped is like a millstone around Buffalo's neck. The mere existence of such a large commercial property with no obvious future prospects hurts everything else that is viable. It's more of a confidence problem than anything else but it has objective effects.

It is definitely "out there" in the residential neighborhoods but I think the broader idea at this point is that it would, could and should become a new commercial center for the city that can attract investment, businesses and employment.

Worth noting that any prospect of "damage" to current efforts presumes that the entire trend is a "zero-sum" phenomenon. In my opinion BCT would create its own new micro-economy and thus enhance demand elsewhere in the community.

The then-mighty New York Central tried to create such a micro-economy, Mr. O'Keefe, and it never really took off. Same with Michigan Central Station in Detroit. Both were booming cities at the time the stations were built, so I'm having a hard time seeing how Buffalo can grow both its downtown and its eastern edge without cannibalizing each other (or somewhere else nearby, like Depew or Tonawanda.)

The point I'm making is about something called elasticity of supply and demand. Sometimes when you add supply (in this case high quality mixed use commercial space) you can generate new demand that otherwise would not exist.

The perspective in which this new addition would "cannibalize" growth is one where demand is "inelastic" or generally unresponsive to change. That's the "zero sum" mentality. There are a lot of places and times in life where that perspective is very appropriate to the circumstances.

I don't think this is one of them.

Why? Because BCT alters the entire development equation for the City. It is so large and has such an impact that much like a blimp hangar creates its own weather BCT would create its own demand.

I have seen a similar dynamic take place on a much smaller scale in Augusta (Maine) with a recent project that built new senior housing units at an old elementary school. I have multiple connections in the market rate housing sector which has allowed me to see the impact in real time of this new supply.

What should have happened was a dip in demand for market rate housing due to so many new units coming online all at once in a market that is relative tight. This has not occurred.

In fact if anything it's been the opposite. More housing and more people living in Augusta has kept demand very tight as it builds economic demand for services. I feel very confident that much the same would happen in Buffalo. In fact a project like BCT is so big that it would in fact have a very deep and very positive impact.

I would have to agree with mtuandrew. It might be a terrific location with vast potential but in real estate, in smaller cities especially, just because you build it does not mean they will come.