Canal Harbor panel considers site shift for Bass Pro
Would relocate store from Central Wharf
By Sharon Linstedt NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 08/12/07 8:17 AM
The Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. is willing to move the proposed Bass Pro Outdoor World store off the historic Central Wharf portion of Buffalo’s redeveloped waterfront, a location that had provoked opposition from preservationists.
In a meeting with several elected officials and community leaders in the last two weeks, representatives of the planning panel have offered a revised site plan that shifts the store less than 100 yards, to the southeast corner of the parcel. The move would leave 95 percent of the original wharf site as an open plaza.
More than a half-acre of the latest proposed location lies outside the 12- acre Erie Canal Harbor site, which would place most of the Bass Pro structure outside the historic district.
“I think they’ve listened to the criticism and feedback they’ve gotten and are working to make a good plan even better,” said Andrew J. Rudnick, president of Buffalo Niagara Partnership, who was updated on the project last week.
The panel’s $275 million plan to bring retail, housing, offices and entertainment to the Erie Canal neighborhood has come under intense attack by preservationists and others as incompatible with the historic district. Much of the criticism has involved the location of the sporting goods store, and the change failed to placate one the project’s most outspoken critics.
“This is just pandering,” said Timothy A. Tielman of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo. “As long as that big box store and the rest of the mall they are planning are within the boundaries of the Erie Canal Harbor historic site, it is not acceptable.”
Larry Quinn, the harbor panel’s vice president, who has acted as chief presenter in recent briefings on the revised plan, declined to comment. But a representative of Upstate Empire State Development Corp., the panel’s parent organization, confirmed changes were being made in the waterfront development plan unveiled in late March.
“We are currently in the process of revising our plan to incorporate some of the great feedback we have received from community leaders, community groups and individuals, alike,” Stefanie Zakowicz, agency spokeswoman, said in a written statement.
“We are not prepared to share any of the details of the plan until such time as we have the approval of all the stakeholders in the project,” she continued.
Other sources said the latest revisions in the waterfront plan might be made public this week.
Relocating the Bass Pro store to the southeast corner of the site — bounded by the Buffalo River, lower Main Street and a reopened section of Perry Street — would involve dropping plans to dredge the area to create a marina. Planners now propose installing floating docks to accommodate visiting boaters and on-water displays of Bass Pro boats.
The 100,000-square-foot, three-level store still would be built in the style of an original Central Wharf structure and would offer a public boardwalk along its waterside perimeter as originally proposed.
Additional revisions in the site plan by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects of New York, the project’s designer, include canals cutting across the sites of the idle Memorial Auditorium and Donovan State Office Building. The canals would open up views through the now-filled-in blocks between Washington and Commercial streets.
In addition to the partnership, Quinn and other harbor panel representatives have conducted project update briefings with the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier; Mayor Byron W. Brown; Erie County Executive Joel A. Giambra; Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo; Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo; and several others.
Rudnick said efforts to reposition the store and other changes demonstrate that the overall Canal Side blueprint is a “work in progress” and will continue to be modified as it undergoes environmental review and the quest for approvals.
“While they are ultimately looking for support, that wasn’t their objective in showing us this latest iteration. I think they are genuine in their request for feedback and additional ideas,” he said.
Tielman, whose group has threatened a lawsuit to stop the project, said he recently met with Jordan Levy, the newly appointed chairman of the harbor panel, but his organization was not offered a firsthand look at the revised plan.
“I’ve heard about it from other people, but they didn’t show it to me,” he said. “I think that says a lot about the process.”
slinstedt@buffnews.com