Buffalo Central Terminal

From an article I wrote for Buffalo Rising Magazine (Dec. 2008):

As our sixth season of events comes to a close, I’d like to remind everyone that work on several different fronts continues at the Central Terminal. Our building committee still has regular Saturday work parties from 10 am to 2 pm during the fall and winter, our events committee begins planning for the next season and we all share in the various administrative tasks that are required to run a not-for-profit organization. Some of the most unique and challenging aspects facing the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation are that we must do several diverse tasks concurrently: not only do we host a series of popular events each year, but we complete capital improvement projects and we actively try to find new ways to facilitate the rehabilitation of the complex.

Strong event attendance figures and the recent recognition of “outstanding programming by a local heritage organization” (Daniel B. Niederlander Award: 2008 winner alongside Shea’s Performing Arts Center) by the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society certainly go a long way to reinforce our success at the first two concurrent tasks I mentioned above, but it’s the last one that remains the biggest and most critical challenge. Preservation of a complex the size of the Central Terminal is an ongoing chore, but is only a relatively temporary fix. Permanent rehabilitation is the ultimate goal, and in our minds and hearts, that cannot happen soon enough.

With that thought in mind, we have embarked on a couple of exciting new projects I’d like to tell everyone about. With much appreciated assistance from Anthony Armstrong of LISC Buffalo, we applied for a sizeable grant from the Community Foundation for a Greater Buffalo to acquire the proper consultants to help us fortify our organization, define a marketing and redevelopment project plan and timeline and create an historic structures assessment. While we may not be as fortunate in our resources as yet, we look to the ongoing restoration planning at the H.H. Richardson complex to act as a guide in this process. We believe that this will be an important step in moving the project toward its ultimate goal and one that we could not do without. Final word on grant approval is coming by the end of the year.

Working in conjunction with the plans noted above, Paul Lang, junior architect at Carmina & Woods, PC, is busy working to create a virtual online model of the Central Terminal. Using Sketchup Pro and importing the CAD drawings of the complex, Paul can recreate the building down to its finest details, like the intricate patterns of the concourse ceiling brickwork. Not only would a visitor to our website be able to take a virtual walking tour of the complex and grounds, they would be able to see for themselves what a restored Central Terminal would look like, whether it be as an office, retail or condominium space. This model would also give us some very useful marketing tools, such as colored posters, that would go along way to help those potential investors who cannot see past the cosmetic damage. Paul is targeting Spring of 2009 for completion of the initial phase of the project, which will be a working, stripped down version of what we want to eventually include.

Volunteers Josh Hall and Nick Kraus are also working on the creation of a marketing brochure for the complex, to include historical facts, dimensions and outline all possible tax credits and grant opportunities that are available for our site. We hope to include this information on our website, www.buffalocentralterminal.org, so that any potential investors that may be surfing the web for development opportunities will be able to evaluate the feasibility of the project more conveniently. While the redevelopment opportunities discussed with Bashar Issa have ended, the fact remains that he found out about us while surfing the internet.

We eagerly look forward to the completion of these projects and the continuing challenges in the future. To us, none of what we do is work. It’s fun!