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BUFFALO, N.Y. — Let’s get one thing straight: The only buffalo in this town are the brightly painted statues on the highways leading into what signs proclaim as an all-American city, a designation it earned in 1996 and 2002.

The city’s name traces its origins to French explorers who gazed on what is today Buffalo Creek and said: “Beau fleuve.”

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Beau hardly describes the state of downtown Buffalo. Once a bustling transportation terminal and manufacturing centre, Main St. between the waterfront and the theatre district is a bleak collection of empty storefronts.

But the city is getting a makeover and it is being spearheaded by Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula and his wife, Kim.

Pegula grew up in western Pennsylvania and lives in Boca Raton, Fla., but it’s safe to say he’s one of the most popular people in Buffalo because he has saved the city’s two major sports franchises, the Sabres and the NFL’s Bills.