Years after opening, the Lofts @ Elk Terminal is not so lonely anymore. The pioneering downtown residential project’s neighborhood is seeing an amazing amount of development. As the area fills in, property owners are coordinating their efforts to brand and market the district. Their goal is to create synergies between existing and upcoming projects.

Besides scattered industrial users, The Buffalo News, HSBC’s Atrium Building, the Naval and Servicemen’s Park, and Memorial Auditorium, the area at the foot of Main Street was a virtual no-man’s land thanks to urban renewal and disinvestment for many years.

Though several properties were demolished to assemble a buildable site, the amount of vacant land in the area helped lure Memorial Auditorium’s replacement. The new arena, opened in 1996, was expected to lure spin-off development to surrounding blocks. As with most sports facilities, the arena failed to single-handedly spur immediate development at the foot of Main Street. It has happened one project at a time.

Slow Start to Development

In 1999, First Amherst Development took advantage of one underutilized property when it began a multi-phased conversion of the Elk Terminal into residential lofts. The 70-unit project was the first non-subsidized residential development ‘downtown’ and brought upscale loft living to the city. Over 1,000 new units later, downtown developers are still finding demand for about 100 new units every year.

The second major development was a multi-building adaptive reuse project along Mississippi Street directly behind the arena by Sam Savarino and Chris Jacobs. Starting in 2005, three buildings were renovated to house loft-like office space, restaurants, and five upscale loft apartments anchored by the former Ben Lin Warehouse at the corner of Perry and Mississippi Streets. Jacobs remains a partner in the largest building at 95 Perry Street.

A one-story former terminal building at 30 Mississippi has been renovated as commercial space and houses Helium Comedy Club. Lagerhaus 95, a European style restaurant, is located on the ground floor of 95 Perry Street. The two venues join the district’s nightlife pioneer, Cobblestone Bar, which opened at the corner of Mississippi and South Park Avenue in 1999 and has plans to expand with a rear deck.

“There were more than a few times when I asked myself, ‘do you know what the hell you are doing?” recalls Savarino, President and CEO of Savarino Cos. “For my part I consider myself fortunate that some lenders, tenants and partners saw the same thing that I see here.”

Another early buyer in the neighborhood was developer Carl Paladino. His Ellicott Development Company purchased two vacant industrial properties with an eye towards reuse: the H-O Oats mill and elevators on Perry Street and the Fairmont Creamery on Scott Street.

Paladino appeared poised to turn the H-O Oats facility into lofts until he sold the property to the Seneca Nation to construct a casino. The H-O Oats complex was demolished in 2005 and the temporary casino opened on the site in 2007.

The Seneca Nation announced plans for a $333 million casino complex including a high rise hotel in 2007 but a faltering economy, and to a lesser extent lawsuits, put that on ice after construction had started leaving a steel skeleton on site for several years. Crews dismantled the steel structure to construct a smaller $130 million complex that opened in mid-August.

Local Developers Secure Sites

Other developers have secured sites in the neighborhood. Uniland Development purchased a multi-floor frozen storage facility at Perry Street and Michigan Avenue and demolished the complex in 1991 for parking and future development. The company is considering a number of uses for the site.

“The 142 Perry site is a large 3-acre parcel that offers an excellent location on the corner of Michigan and Perry, kiddie corner to the new casino,” says Carl Montante Jr., Uniland’s Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Initiatives. “The property would be conducive to multiple uses. We have several developments under consideration but would welcome any expressions of interest as well.”

Skydeck Corporation owns a surface parking lot on Scott Street across from The Buffalo News and James T. Sandoro purchased the former Upstate Milk plant across from Lofts @ Elk Terminal.

On the western edge of Cobblestone, another development drama was playing out. Bass Pro Shops danced with area politicians for several years about locating one of its stores in the Canalside footprint. After several announced agreements, site changes, and revised designs, the retailer pulled the plug on the project in 2010.

Benderson Development’s plans for a mixed-use development within Canalside and surrounding blocks took a significant hit with the loss of Bass Pro. Lighter, quicker and cheaper were in. The Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation revised its master plan for the area and is now taking a slower, incremental approach to Canalside development.

Benderson did not give up on the area however. The company snared law firm Phillips Lytle to anchor its redevelopment of the Donovan State Office Building. The project at 125 Main Street, now One Canalside, includes Phillips Lytle’s four floors of office space, a 96-room Courtyard by Marriott that will open early next year, and ground floor commercial space.

HSBC was close to building new local offices on the so-called Webster Block at Main and Scott streets until the global banking giant retrenched in the United States. The City then looked for other developers interested in the long-vacant parcel and found two: Ellicott Development and the Sabres organization. Each proposed a mixed-use development but ultimately the Sabres’ plans for a hotel, retail, parking, and two ice-rink complex won out. HARBORCENTER’s $170 million price tag makes it one of the largest private-sector construction projects in the city’s history.

Meanwhile, developer interest is spreading south thanks to a cleaner river, Buffalo River Fest Park’s cleanup of underutilized property, and the State’s plans for streetscape work along Ohio Street.

Sam Savarino and Frontier Group of Companies, LLC are planning a 78-unit residential project on the site of the Erie Freight House and plans for a restaurant, ice rink, and concert venue on Ganson Street were announced in recent weeks. Frontier also moved their headquarters to the district occupying the fourth floor at 26 Mississippi Street.

The Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino and Ohio Street corridor on the east and First Niagara Center, HARBORCENTER and Canalside on the west provide nodes of activity at each end of the Cobblestone neighborhood. There’s plenty of room to fill in between them. The surface parking lots in the area create a dead zone but are ripe for infill. In fact, the parking lots owned by HSBC are always on the list of potential sites when talk of a new convention center heats up every few years.

Working Together

Cobblestone area property owners have banded together to link the nodes of activity with infrastructure improvements and market the area with a website and branding campaign.

The Perry Street streetscape plan is a public/private effort to improve and enhance Perry Street between Main Street and Michigan Avenue. Improvements include expanded sidewalks, lighting accents, landscaping, a double row of trees, street furniture, and bike lanes and striped crosswalks.

When completed, this will provide a pedestrian and bicycle link from Canalside to the planned improvements on Ohio Street and the outer harbor. It will also integrate with the casino site so that casino patrons have easier access to Main Street and Canalside.

“When I moved my agency down to the Cobblestone District in 2009 from Williamsville, I really didn’t have any knowledge about the area,” says Dan Mecca, President of Abbey Mecca & Company a branding, advertising and digital marketing firm located on Mississippi Street. “I liked the space, the location, the convenience of parking, and access to the Thruway.”

“As we became more familiar with the district and the businesses here, we thought of the idea of forming a Cobblestone District business association,” says Mecca. “It wasn’t until summer 2012 that we really pushed the idea, bought the domain name, cobblestonedistrict.com, and built the website.”

Says Mecca, “That summer we got together with Cobblestone Bar, Lagerhaus 95, Morrissey’s and Bench Warmers to try and do some collective marketing to leverage the crowds that would be in the area for the summer concerts at Canalside. We created an identity/logo, put up some light post banners, and the website was a necessary piece.”

“The website along with social media such as the Facebook and Twitter pages that we manage are our primary marketing channels to let people know about businesses and events in the Cobblestone District,” adds Mecca. “We are currently working on ideas for events for summer 2014.”

Property Owners Prepare for the Future

There’s more coming. Developers see opportunity in the area but it remains unknown what the future holds for Cobblestone. Some see the area evolving into an entertainment district supplanting Chippewa Street. Others see a more mixed use future including residential infill development.

“My feeling is this district will develop into an exciting mixed-use recreational, entertainment, business, and residential area focused on the inner harbor and Buffalo River,” says developer Roger Trettel. “It is shaping up as a neighborhood where you can literally live, work, and play within just a few blocks of the city.”

Trettel, who has cut his teeth on several reuse projects along Ellicott Street and the 500 block of Main Street, has two properties in area. Trettel along with Sam Savarino, Ed Plata, and Dan Mania formed a partnership that purchased the property at 49 Illinois Street from Trettel and opened Buffalo Iron Works in late-September of this year. The 500-person capacity music venue and event bar is located directly behind First Niagara Center. It features live music at least five nights a week.

This summer Trettel purchased the venerable Malamute Tavern at the corner of South Park and Michigan Avenue across from the casino. Trettel is currently weighing a number of mixed-use options for the property.

Continuing the mixed-use trend in the neighborhood, Ellicott Development is in the process of converting the Fairmont Creamery Co. building at 199 Scott Street into residential and commercial space. The eight-story masonry structure will contain office space on the sixth, seventh and eighth floors, 27-30 apartments on floors three through five, a banquet facility and meeting space on the second floor, a restaurant on the first floor, and possibly a 13,000 sq.ft. brewery operation in the lower level of the building.

Dynamics Changing

Though optimistic about the area’s potential, property owners remain unsure of what the area will ultimately become.

“The Cobblestone area is quickly becoming an entertainment destination for both locals and tourists,” says Uniland’s Montante. “Canalside and the new Buffalo Creek Casino bookend the district and, in between, First Niagara Center and the HARBORCENTER complex add significant visitor generators.”

“These entertainment and recreational uses will draw people to the district at certain times and seasons,” adds Montante. “What is necessary to complement these destinations and solidify the district are uses that will keep retailers and restaurants busy during nonpeak periods. Strong weekday daytime uses could include office and institutional development such as higher education, healthcare or non-profit, and multi-family residential would maintain vibrancy during evening hours and the weekends.”

HARBORCENTER is expected to be a significant draw. The complex will feature two NHL-size ice rinks, the largest with a seating capacity of 1,800. The rinks will house the Buffalo Junior Sabres Youth Organization and will be the home to Canisius College’s Division I men’s ice hockey program. Adult leagues, camps and clinics, public skating, and tournaments will also utilize the complex.

HARBORCENTER will also include the neighborhood’s second hotel, a 205-room Marriott fronting Main Street. There will also be a sports bar and restaurant along Scott Street. The mammoth 13,000 square foot, two-level restaurant will have seating for 350 and contain three bars.

“With Helium , the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino and Iron Works now up and running along with the Cobblestone Bar & Grille and Lagerhaus 95, the Cobblestone District is not just a Sabres game night destination,” says Mecca. “Once HARBORCENTER is open, we believe the Cobblestone District will see a significant increase in visits.”

“I am not sure that the Cobblestone District – such as it is – should have any grand aspirations at all,” says Savarino. “Its funky mélange of small industries, offices, entertainment venues, and residents exists in the shadow of the arena and adjacent to the HARBORCENTER and Canalside. We all know each other and we like it here. If we are not friends or compatriots we have at least worked at getting along. It’s a great place to view the grander planned developments coming up around us.”

Cobblestone is not the sleepy neighborhood it was a decade ago and there’s plenty of land and opportunity for further growth. The key is to create a mixed-use district with round-the-clock activity all year. Hockey during the winter, and Bisons baseball and waterfront attractions during the summer, provides a solid foundation. Add light rail connecting to the remainder of downtown, a nearby residential population and downtown workers, and the ingredients start falling into place to create a dynamic collection of public space, retail, offices, restaurants and residences.

Says Montante, “What may make the most sense is for the major players in the district to work together on a development plan that maximizes synergy among all uses within the Cobblestone district.”