Buffalo By Choice

Is Buffalo stuck? Does it ever evolve?

As a recent repat myself, I know the seeming lack of change was one of my main frustrations while I was away. I would travel around the country, and see change many places I went: new malls, new buildings, new homes. But in Buffalo, when I returned for visits, it seemed the entire city was stuck in the mud.  

But now the mud is clearing away, and that reputation is no longer deserved. Take the news this Memorial Day weekend from the waterfront. Buffalo’s magnificent harbor, for years the source of frustration and the epicenter of the city’s inertia, had two major openings in the same weekend. First, a new beach at the end of the Erie Basin Marina, in the shadow of the outlook tower. Second, and more importantly, the opening of the $53 million rebuilt and reworked Erie Canal District, complete with new museums, rewatered Erie Canal Terminus, boardwalk, parkland, and excavated historic buildings.

The public space is a start, but only the beginning of hundreds of millions in investment in creating a retail and restaurant destination. At the moment, can you can start at LaSalle Park, walk your dog, hear a concert, and then stroll on continuous public space and parkland down to the Erie Basin Marina. From there you can stop to get a bite to eat at the Hatch, walk on the beach, and then wander to the Naval and Military Park, visit the USS Little Rock, and end up at the Erie Canal. Eventually, four hundred thousand square feet of retail space will await you there. But in the meantime, a milestone has been reached, and change is in the air.

Come to Buffalo Homecoming, and see for yourself. Register now online, Bring Home the Herd, and we’ll see you the last weekend in June.