Noel Weaver wrote:You're not going to even get started for 10 million.
Noel Weaver
I used to volunteer with the BCT resto group, years ago when it was a fledgling organization, and before the problems it had. Estimates roughly 20 years ago put restoration of the terminal, and not the tower, at $50M, the damage was that bad. Our job at the time was to A) Secure the terminal, and B) To start clean up efforts. I'm proud of what we were able to do, but at the time had reservations about what could actually be done with the property. It's in a rough part of town, and quite frankly was never a net boon to the surrounding neighborhood. There was resistance to it being built in the first place, and rightfully so, hubris and corporatism put it two miles from downtown, the Central figured the city would be 'pulled' towards the terminal, that's how arrogant the powers that be at more than a few American railroads were, at the time.
Four months later, the NYSE collapsed.
As an aside, at the age of 5 (1979) I was on one of the last Amtrak trains which left the terminal, going east to Rochester. I can remember some tidbits, plain as day. The waiting room with the murals of scenes of NY State, we waited there until it was time to board the train (Empire States Express?). That waiting room today is a disaster. I remember the huge benches and whatnot, the high ceiling, and the murals. The main hall was closed off, I vaguely remember that part. The terminal itself was intact. Within several years it was a disaster.
Just an FYI, a great-grandmother of mine worked in the tower as a "car counter" for the Central, and retired from the railroad around 1950 or so.
A great photographer named Chuck Maley took photos of it at various intervals, pictures I looked at years ago to get a reference as to how the terminal looked 25-30 years ago:
http://www.webring.org/l/rd?ring=buffal ... l01%2Ehtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Those are the first photos of the terminal I viewed in '98, online, before getting out of the service.
Like other NY Central terminals, the RR had wanted to get rid of it as early as the 50's. Buffalo itself was a city in decline as far back as the 20's, WW II helped it, but the city, and later the
Niagara Frontier, were in trouble by the 50's, according to various data sets, and people like my dad who grew up there, and who, at one point or another, left the area. I believe the blame rests on various entities, one big one being NY State government, and if anyone here doesn't believe me as to the latter, just look at what Niagara Falls, NY, turned into.
The station in Rochester was partially demolished, such that the Central/PennCentral could save a little on property taxes. The property tax issue was first and foremost on the minds of the powers that be of the railroad, back in the 50's.
I don't know what the BCT could be turned into, as a profitable entity, but i do know it would be a bear to heat, and there are other basic issues to address. Heat? I would argue that geothermal could be a savior for the terminal, if someone come along and wants to invest in it. Geothermal could also be used to kin of cool the place, during summer.
i hate to see such a wonderful property go out of favor, but really, now. Who has the resources to rehab the property and make into something useful?