On the Waterfront

Some hopeful news, and some troubling news on the waterfront:

A local public corporation that would oversee the nearly $1 billion development of the Buffalo waterfront is expected to be created as early as next week, and Sabres Managing Partner Larry Quinn is likely to head it. Gov. George E. Pataki has proposed a seven-member board to coordinate the several pending projects along Buffalo’s inner and outer harbors…

…While neither the governor’s office nor the development office would confirm what is in the works, Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, said he is aware of plans for the panel and finds it acceptable.

“This isn’t exactly what I had in mind, but I feel very good about this and am confident this corporation will produce results,” said Higgins, who has made repeated calls for an independent, local entity to oversee the laundry list of waterfront projects. “What I’m most interested in is forward progress on the waterfront, and I believe the local people who will be involved have the same goal.”

Higgins also applauded the leadership of Quinn, whose resume includes success in building the HSBC Arena and the Hauptman Woodward Medical Research Institute.

“It’s critical that Larry head it,” Higgins said. “He’s a guy who has taken critical projects from conception to completion. He also has demonstrated credibility with the construction trades and the private development community.”

If Higgins is happy, that’s good. Because while everyone else stood around and did nothing, he’s the guy who got us to this point on the waterfront in the first place.

And some Bass Pro news:

The giant sporting goods chain has been growing increasingly impatient in its negotiations with the state to reach a final contract to turn Memorial Auditorium into a Bass Pro store, according to sources close to that deal. Relationships have eroded so severely in recent months over the slow pace of discussions that Morris considered pulling the plug on the Buffalo store, sources said.

But the governor’s promise of a Buffalo-focused development corporation has helped renew Bass Pro’s faith that the project, which involves $66 million in federal, state and local dollars, can proceed smoothly, sources said.

Leave it to Albany to fuck up a good thing.