Buffalo Central Terminal

Big restoration step planned for Buffalo’s Central Terminal
WKBW TV 8-9-08
By Jenny Rizzo

A blues concert at Buffalo’s Central Terminal draws big crowds, and organizers hope, big donations. The 1920s-era railroad building fell into disrepair in the last few decades when train service stopped but revitalization efforts are underway for several sites on the eastside of Buffalo.

Tonight was a big fundraiser for the Central Terminal but it also marks the beginning of a new phase for them. The restoration group in charge will soon begin the first of three steps to revitalize the building with the outcome being a mixed-use convention center-style space.

After years of small steps, the restoration corporation is ready to take one big one. “We’re structuring it like an outside-in type of thing. We’re looking to re-point the brick, work on the windows, window frames and then we’ll gradually work to the inside,” said Mark Lewandowski, treasurer of the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation or CTRC.

Lewandowski says the 5-story portion will be hit first. The plan is to convert it into light industrial space. Once business is brought back into the terminal, then the tower is next on the list for restoration and finally the main concourse. “Its been said that its Buffalo’s other convention center and we’re working toward that goal. We want the public to enjoy the building and generate proceeds to help restore the building,” said Lewandowski.

While events like the blues concert are now frequent in the main building, eventually $15 million alone will need to be spent on the concourse to bring it back to its old glory.

“You try to focus on one individual thing and you try to get that accomplished for the day, and slowly, if every person does that, the building progresses,” said Arthur Kogutowski, a terminal volunteer.

For tonight’s event, decorative lights were put up and the old news stand was revamped to give guests a feel for what the old railroad building used to look like. But the terminal still possesses many of the architectural attributes that made it a majestic building. That’s why volunteers see this building as the beacon for the revitalization to come in the eastside of Buffalo. “The entire neighborhood was kind of left behind, so to speak, and we’re hoping with the revitalization of the Central Terminal, the Broadway Market, and Corpus Christi, will bring the whole area back together,” said Lewandowski.

The last train pulled away from the terminal in 1979. It will take an estimated $60 million to entirely restore the Central Terminal.