Reply With Quotewegmans at mainplace. why did you ever think of how far you would have to push the shopping cart or how many kids would be needed to round them all up and return them to the store
Just an idea I wanted to throw out because I like thinking about this stuff.
Turn the Main Place Mall into a residential complex. Turn the tower into 1-2 bedroom condos and the liberty into high end condos (overlooking historic Lafayette Square). Anchor the mall below with a smaller sized Wegmans (God how I miss Wegmans) and other quality of life stores. Barbers, Dry Cleaners, Blockbuster, 24hr fitness & Starbucks and some restaurants that are above fast food and food court.
There is a parking lot next to the mall on Court between Franklin and Pearl that could be built as another residential tower. Say a 30 story tower. The AM&As is on the other side.
I think the goal of the city should be to convert all of the B and C grade space on the market to housing. Part of the reason this space is not rented is because the old buildings do not allow for open floor plans that business want today. This challenge is great for housing conversions. This will open the market for new construction on A,B and C space. Downtown on all of those lovely parking lots.
Anyways, just another idea. Today is one of those days were I want to talk about what could be not bitch about what is.
wegmans at mainplace. why did you ever think of how far you would have to push the shopping cart or how many kids would be needed to round them all up and return them to the store
One good thing about growing old is your secrets are safe with your friends they can't remember them either
Originally Posted by granpabob
Shopping Carts are easy to deal with. Just do like IKEA does.
wegmans in the mall garage into apartments that means if you go to wegmans you have to carry all your groceries two or three blocks back to your car just make the entire mall into offices and aparments and let wegmans be built where you can get a cart to your car
One good thing about growing old is your secrets are safe with your friends they can't remember them either
DUDE are you drunk? This is the longest sentence ever. Try using a period.
It is obvious that you have never lived in a real city. People in dense urban areas walk several blocks. Walking is not bad. The way you think is the reason there are so many fat people in Buffalo.
Anyways, a Wegmans in the MPM is a great idea. It would place a top notch grocery store on the subway line and downtown in one move. It could be accessed by lower income residents who live along the subway line who need a quality place to shop. It would eliminate the need to shop in the crappy mini-marts on main. It would allow people to live DT and not HAVE to drive to get some mike or eggs. Your in the box thinking that every building needs a parking lot is the reason why Buffalo has lost so many buildings and gained so many parking lots.
Yes, converting all of the poor office space into residential space is a proven method of sparking a trend. With new building materials, companies EXPECT the open floor plans offered in the office parks in Amherst. Most of the VACANT B and C space was build before and can not offer the open plan. Converting this undesirable OFFICE SPACE to desirable RESIDENTIAL space is a SMART move. This would make NEW office space needed in Buffalo, and all of those lovely parking lots can then be built on.
Leftwny, I like your idea. Converting offices into apartments with some shopping on the main floor. When you have shopping that convenient, you do your shopping in spurts. I shop for a whole week with many bags to bring in the house. A person living there can pick up a bag or two of groceries and never have to put on a coat in the winter. Ahhhh... if they did that and I was younger, I would move there in a heart beat. Or maybe I still could.... And people who don't live in the complex can use those foldable shopping carts. It can be done, residents in Manhattan do it all the time.
Adopt an English Springer Spaniel.
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"Striving to be the person
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I dont live to shop.............in fact shopping is a real pain...............when i shop i get a week or more at a time so I have time to do other things.........as far as walking I do it in a park where I dont have exhaust pipes blowing in my face............. you are right I wont ever live in a city......I like to have room to plant and play without neighbors being in the way.............
One good thing about growing old is your secrets are safe with your friends they can't remember them either
Dude have you ever been to a real live functioning city before? Ya know, one where people DO carry groceries.....
How about turning the Main Place Mall into a shopping mall?
You know...one with stores that are that and sell things. Who ever heard of a mall without a parking lot? Is this the only one in the country?
How about we raze the Rath Building. Turn that into a parking lot.
The evil hide even when no one is chasing them.- Proverbs
Funny how your elected officials don't think the same way...pretty soon OP will be just about all quarter acre lots.
Where are the tenants for all this downtown housing going to come from? Do you anticipate a mass exodus from the 'burbs to downtown Buffalo or something? There's a "demand" over the next 5 years for fewer than 2000 more units. The "average" Buffalo household has about 2.5 members, but that includes households with children, of which there are very few in downtown, so giving them 2.0 persons per household would mean adding about 4,000 people at most to the number currently living in downtown. That's certainly not enough to support a Wegman's.
The real problem with downtown conversions that limits their appeal is their cost. This may come as a shock to someone living in San Diego, but there is a limited market for $1000+ a month apartments and $250,000+ condos in Buffalo. The people who would most like to live downtown are younger people who can't afford the rent, much less the purchase price.
http://www.buffalo.com/HomeFinderExt...y.asp?R_ID=372
Buffalo Place announces results of downtown residential surveys
Published in HomeFinder on 8/13/2005
In the past five years, there has been a significant amount of attention and money spent on the conversion of vacant and underutilized buildings in the downtown area into new housing units.
The increase in the number of downtown residents has helped to create a 24/7 mixed-use community that supports the existing stores and restaurants and has generated a need for more day-to-day services.
Buffalo Place featured two surveys on downtown living on its Web site — E-Report. These surveys were the first attempt to directly contact downtown residents and potential residents.
One survey was specifically for current downtown residents. The other was for those respondents who said they were not currently living downtown but were interested in doing so.
Downtown has more than 1,500 housing units available in the core and along the waterfront. The majority of these were built and available before 2002. Since then 184 units have been built and another 82 are under lease. As of this writing, another 124 units are under construction or in the final stages of planning.
A recent study of the downtown Buffalo residential market potential by Zimmerman Volk Associates indicates tat downtown could absorb 375 new residential units per year for the next five years.
The survey was a natural follow up to the market study. Some highlights of the survey include: Approximately 63 percent of downtown residents are under the age of 35. Potential downtown residents are similar in age with 56 percent being under the age of 35. The population downtown is 55 percent male and 45 percent female. Ninety-one percent of downtown households do not contain children.
More than 75 percent of each group reported having a college degree. The 2000 Census found that 25 percent of Erie County residents have a college degree, thus downtown residents are three times as likely to be a college graduate as the rest of the county.
In both surveys, 80 percent of the respondents have a per capita income greater than $25,000. The average per capita income of Erie County residents is $20,357 as determined by the 2000 census.
Nearly 50 percent of the existing and potential residents work outside the downtown core. This indicates a significant group of reverse commuters. In other words, people are choosing downtown for the amenities and not for work proximity.
Forty-eight percent of current residents said they would purchase their apartment if given the chance. The potential downtown residents expressed a similar willingness to purchase an apartment with 45 percent preferring purchase options to renting.
Of current residents, 72 percent expect to still be living downtown in three years and 88 percent feel that downtown is a great place to live.
Downtown residential development is one of the elements of redevelopment that will help to revitalize the area.
One of the conclusions of the survey is that there is existing and continuing demand for downtown apartments. Residents who are already downtown want to further invest by purchasing an apartment.
Current residents are positive about living downtown, suggesting that potential residents — most of whom are demographically similar to current residents, — will be satisfied when they move downtown.
Success in attracting and retaining residents will help to ensure the redevelopment of all of Downtown.
Your right to buy a military weapon without hindrance, delay or training cannot trump Daniel Barden’s right to see his eighth birthday. -- Jim Himes
Linda, what's your point?
Rocco Termini has built several projects which feature most units for rent under $1000/mo.
Esquare capital renovated a 10 story building on Washington st. into the Holling Place apartments which mostly rent from about $500-700/mo.
There is a good degree of affordable housing downtown.
There are also plenty of condo buyers in the area who would be downtown if there were more actual condos for sale.
My point is that there's a limited demand for downtown housing because this is not a booming area nor a particlarly wealthy area. LeftWNY wants to convert all B & C office space into housing. I'll let you figure out what the problem with that would be since you obviously need some practice in economics.
Your right to buy a military weapon without hindrance, delay or training cannot trump Daniel Barden’s right to see his eighth birthday. -- Jim Himes
I'll agree that converting all B+C office space into housing is pure lunacy.
But there certainly is demand to live downtown, and the metro area isn't as poor as you would like to make it out to be.
I see living in stagnant Jamestown for so long has probably clouded your thinking. Come up and visit downtown Buffalo, things are looking up for once.
As someone who works with REALTORS in the area, I disagree 100% on your comment for demand. When people buy a home (condo/single family) they are buying a lifestyle. There is a difference in lifestyle from Jamestown to Amherst to Downtown. I think you would agree with that. What I would also like you to look at another point. There are PLENTY of people who live in Amherst who would prefer to live downtown if downtown had the amenities that Amherst has. Things like Wegmans and what not. There is not a huge demand for the CURRENT Buffalo downtown lifestyle. But change some of the variables and the DEMAND goes up. I am going to take the word from a broker of one of the largest DOWNTOWN brokerages over a lady in Jamestown. Sorry if that upsets you. I do not think you are close to an expert just some lady with very strong opinions.
My comments on the B & C space is abstract but not "pure lunacy" as shovel ready claimed. Speak with ANY person who works in COMMERCIAL leasing and ask them what the requirements of prospective tenants are. The top 3 99% of the time are PARKING, FLOORPLAN and WIRING. A building built 30+ years ago was built with different materials then those today. The buildings that you find on the B and C list are compartmentalized. Which means the HEAVY construction is needed to change floor plans. They are also NOT WIRED for today's needs. Companies today want to be able to create floor plans per their needs not have them dictated by load bearing walls or concrete walls. The ability of running cable is a lot more cost effective on a building found in Amherst vs. a building downtown. This is why those companies moved to the large WIDE OPEN floor plans in the burbs. This need is not going to do a 180. If Buffalo wants to bring business downtown, they have to provide business space that is desired. Upgrading a B/C building to A is not easy when you have a 50 year old floor plan that CAN NOT BE CHANGED. Architects build buildings today with COMPUTERS in mind. Architects before 1980 DID NOT.
Doing this conversion would allow people to LIVE in these old building with TONS of character. It would also allow for NEW CONSTRUCTION of office space that when built can provide PARKING underneath, OPEN floor plans and CURRENT WIRING for those things that are sometimes used in business called COMPUTERS!!!!
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