Peanut
08-01-2007, 06:16 PM
Wednesday, August 01, 2007SEAN KIRST POST-STANDARD COLUMNIST
The company, a health care giant, is about to open a new headquarters downtown. Its chief executive officer says one of the big goals is bringing life to the core of a struggling Upstate city. The new building, worth roughly $110 million, represents the biggest downtown project in decades, and it is already a highly visible symbol of a wave of new development.
As you've probably guessed, we are not speaking of Syracuse, where Excellus announced this month that it will move 850 jobs from our downtown to DeWitt.
We are speaking of Buffalo, where HealthNow, parent company of BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, is ready this week to begin taking about 1,200 employees to a magnificent new landmark that went up on what had been an ugly wasteland near Buffalo's City Hall.
An attached garage will provide all-weather parking for HealthNow workers. And the historic façade of the old Buffalo Gas Light Co. has been merged into the new design, after project officials met early in the process with historians and preservationists.
Around Buffalo, a city hungry for a downtown turnaround, much of the credit is given to Alphonso O'Neil-White, president and chief executive officer of HealthNow. He spoke in an interview Tuesday of a project that he described as "win, win, win all around."
Yes, he said, there were moments when he was tempted to give up. He remembers what he called one especially "hairy" stage of talks. Those negotiations involved the city of Buffalo and a local gas utility, and they became difficult enough to make O'Neil-White think long and hard about going to the suburbs.
He knew there was plenty of space to build outside the city. He knew how easy it would be, once he got out of Buffalo, to find ample room for parking.
In the end, he said, there were always higher considerations. HealthNow, whose city headquarters had been just outside downtown Buffalo for years, felt the right thing for the community was a commitment to the city's core.
"We sort of started looking at our principles to guide where we would land, and they all led us right back to the city," O'Neil-White said.
He declines to comment on the choice made by Excellus in Syracuse, since he knows little about it, and the point of this column is hardly to sort it out. Journalists and historians will undoubtedly spend years deciding exactly when and why Excellus decided to take so many jobs out of the city - and whether public officials on every level could have done more to change that choice.
The original plan to keep Excellus in our downtown was unveiled in 2002. The big vision was reviving the heart of the main street in our city. The project called for hollowing out the historic buildings on the 300 block of South Salina Street and converting the empty space into new parking for employees.
That grand plan eventually crumbled, as did several others.
On July 23, Excellus officials confirmed that they will move those 850 employees to DeWitt by the middle of next year. They did it despite several calls from Gov. Eliot Spitzer, according to Dan Gundersen, Spitzer's point man for Upstate development. Gundersen said it is always preferable "to have the private sector invest and commit to our Upstate downtowns."
The state helped make that happen for HealthNow in Buffalo by providing substantial incentives, built around cleaning a notorious brownfield. While O'Neil-White said that open land gave the company the room it needed in the city, he said larger factors went into the decision.
In Buffalo, he said, many HealthNow employees live in the city or nearby, and a downtown location makes commuting sense. He said the company's long history also played a role, since it has stayed within the borders of Buffalo for 70 years.
"Thirdly, (we asked ourselves) do we just want to move to a new location and that's it?" O'Neil-White said. "This is going to be a big move for us, and we want to make an impactful move for the community."
That impact, agree civic leaders in Buffalo, will be profound - visually, spiritually, economically.
Richard Tobe, Buffalo's commissioner of economic development, spoke with excitement Tuesday of the commercial ripple from bringing 1,200 new workers into the city's core. Beyond the pragmatic benefits, he described the uplifting effect of the gleaming building on everyday residents and commuters.
"It's an enormous victory for the city," Tobe said, "and it's a real tribute and expression of confidence from HealthNow in the future of Buffalo."
From Syracuse, we say: Best of luck. It must be nice.
Sean Kirst is a columnist with The Post-Standard. His columns appear Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Call him at 470-6015.
Syracuse, YOU SUCK, im movin to Buffalo.
The company, a health care giant, is about to open a new headquarters downtown. Its chief executive officer says one of the big goals is bringing life to the core of a struggling Upstate city. The new building, worth roughly $110 million, represents the biggest downtown project in decades, and it is already a highly visible symbol of a wave of new development.
As you've probably guessed, we are not speaking of Syracuse, where Excellus announced this month that it will move 850 jobs from our downtown to DeWitt.
We are speaking of Buffalo, where HealthNow, parent company of BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, is ready this week to begin taking about 1,200 employees to a magnificent new landmark that went up on what had been an ugly wasteland near Buffalo's City Hall.
An attached garage will provide all-weather parking for HealthNow workers. And the historic façade of the old Buffalo Gas Light Co. has been merged into the new design, after project officials met early in the process with historians and preservationists.
Around Buffalo, a city hungry for a downtown turnaround, much of the credit is given to Alphonso O'Neil-White, president and chief executive officer of HealthNow. He spoke in an interview Tuesday of a project that he described as "win, win, win all around."
Yes, he said, there were moments when he was tempted to give up. He remembers what he called one especially "hairy" stage of talks. Those negotiations involved the city of Buffalo and a local gas utility, and they became difficult enough to make O'Neil-White think long and hard about going to the suburbs.
He knew there was plenty of space to build outside the city. He knew how easy it would be, once he got out of Buffalo, to find ample room for parking.
In the end, he said, there were always higher considerations. HealthNow, whose city headquarters had been just outside downtown Buffalo for years, felt the right thing for the community was a commitment to the city's core.
"We sort of started looking at our principles to guide where we would land, and they all led us right back to the city," O'Neil-White said.
He declines to comment on the choice made by Excellus in Syracuse, since he knows little about it, and the point of this column is hardly to sort it out. Journalists and historians will undoubtedly spend years deciding exactly when and why Excellus decided to take so many jobs out of the city - and whether public officials on every level could have done more to change that choice.
The original plan to keep Excellus in our downtown was unveiled in 2002. The big vision was reviving the heart of the main street in our city. The project called for hollowing out the historic buildings on the 300 block of South Salina Street and converting the empty space into new parking for employees.
That grand plan eventually crumbled, as did several others.
On July 23, Excellus officials confirmed that they will move those 850 employees to DeWitt by the middle of next year. They did it despite several calls from Gov. Eliot Spitzer, according to Dan Gundersen, Spitzer's point man for Upstate development. Gundersen said it is always preferable "to have the private sector invest and commit to our Upstate downtowns."
The state helped make that happen for HealthNow in Buffalo by providing substantial incentives, built around cleaning a notorious brownfield. While O'Neil-White said that open land gave the company the room it needed in the city, he said larger factors went into the decision.
In Buffalo, he said, many HealthNow employees live in the city or nearby, and a downtown location makes commuting sense. He said the company's long history also played a role, since it has stayed within the borders of Buffalo for 70 years.
"Thirdly, (we asked ourselves) do we just want to move to a new location and that's it?" O'Neil-White said. "This is going to be a big move for us, and we want to make an impactful move for the community."
That impact, agree civic leaders in Buffalo, will be profound - visually, spiritually, economically.
Richard Tobe, Buffalo's commissioner of economic development, spoke with excitement Tuesday of the commercial ripple from bringing 1,200 new workers into the city's core. Beyond the pragmatic benefits, he described the uplifting effect of the gleaming building on everyday residents and commuters.
"It's an enormous victory for the city," Tobe said, "and it's a real tribute and expression of confidence from HealthNow in the future of Buffalo."
From Syracuse, we say: Best of luck. It must be nice.
Sean Kirst is a columnist with The Post-Standard. His columns appear Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Call him at 470-6015.
Syracuse, YOU SUCK, im movin to Buffalo.
