So, here’s a flyer that’s being sent around today(.pdf).
The flyer indicates that the Canal Side deal represents a $130 million giveaway to Bass Pro and Benderson. It also alleges that the plan will “wreck” the empty, overgrown Canal District. Anyone with a penchant for allusions to fishing will be pleased.
That $130 million figure is mostly estimates.
It continues,
A hard-earned, award-winning public plan to develop the birthplace of Buffalo—the Canal District—threatened…
• A $25,000,000 Bass Pro “big box†on public open space, paid for by the public, and tax exempt forever
The most insidious thing the anti-Canal Side folks do is allude to the proposed Bass Pro as being a “big box”. That automatically conjures up visions of Niagara Falls Boulevard or Transit Road Kohls and Targets. But if one were to bother to read the predevelopment deal,
[Bass Pro] agrees to design the Bass Pro Improvements in a manner reminiscent of the historic structures formerly located at the site and otherwise consistent with the Erie Canal Harbor District. It is the intent of the parties that the Bass Pro IMprovements will resemble the original Central Wharf Buildings in style, scope, structure, and character…
Reconstructing something from the 19th century is hardly equal to the construction of a Wal-Mart or BJs. In addition, the
[Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp.] shall acquire title to the Central Wharf Parcel, including the Bass Pro Improvements thereon, and lease the same to BP for an initial term of twenty (20) years with six five year renewal options.
Strike one for the hyperbolists.
So, even though through public ownership there won’t be property tax paid on that parcel, that maintains the status quo and there will actually be something worth going to down there. If Bass Pro up and leaves, the property remains in the people’s hands. After all, we built it.
• One-half of Central Wharf sacrificed for a publicly funded $7,000,000 yacht basin, controlled by Bass Pro
The agreement states that ECHDC with the input of Benderson and Bass Pro,
shall cause the creation of a marina in a newly created basin at the foot of Main Street. The Foot of Main Street Harbor and the immediately adjacent Main Wharf will have 30 slips available to BP for display and guide boats. BP is to have access, at no cost, to the newly created Foot of Main Street Harbor. BP will operate and maintain the marina per agreement with ECHDC. The marina will be available to other commercial interests and the general public.
So, the public builds the marina and BP gets to use it, and it agrees to operate and maintain it at private expense for public-private benefit. How is that horrible? Also, I don’t see that $7 million figure anywhere in the agreement. Strike two.
• The entire remaining Canal District plus three surrounding city blocks given to Benderson Development for $10 (ten dollars)
ECHDC will acquire title to the Benderson parcels and will either deed them to Benderson for $10, or ground lease them to Benderson with an option to buy. That is $10 more than anyone’s paid for those parcels lately.
At its own cost, Benderson will develop the Donovan Block, the Webster Block, the Aud Block, and certain parts of the Historic Block. The aggregate square footage will be 200 – 250,000 square feet of retail space, 60 – 80,000 square feet of restaurant and entertainment space, 15-30,000 square feet of office space, 75-120,000 square feet of hotel space, and 40-75,000 square feet of residential space.
That’s over three city blocks’ worth of new shops, eateries, drinkeries, offices, hotel guests, and residents in a location now made up of dilapidated public structures that do nothing for anybody (Aud, Donovan), and one surface parking lot (Webster). Strike three.
Yes, Virginia, there will be parking.
But here’s what’s significant:
Benderson agrees to submit all drawings to, and consult with, the Architectural Review Committee. The final design of the Benderson Improvements shall be subject to the reasonable approval of ECHDC and shall be consistent with the architectural standards for the Erie Canal Harbor Project approved by the Architectural Review Committee.
Benderson will be paying – from private funds – for the development of all of its improvements except for the parking ramps, which ECHDC will pay for.
Benderson shall pay either full taxes, or payments-in-lieu-of-taxes equal to full taxes, commencing upon completiton of construction of the improvements…
In addition, Benderson will require its other tenants to contribute towards common area maintenance.
• $35,000,000 of new public parking ramps for free private use
Yes, it would be horrific to construct new parking for customers to patronize businesses there. Instead, they should utilize one of the myriad surface lots that the city has.
• A shopping mall in drag instead of a neighborhood …unless you make your voice heard.
Rise up, Buffalo, and prevent the city from building its Faneuil Hall Marketplace or Baltimore Inner Harbor.
Incidentally, as part of the project, ECHDC will spend $25 million to design and construct an Erie Canal Transportation Museum, Marketplace, and Arcade on the historic block. There are also plans to build an Aquarium there.
The deal is neither perfect nor final. Instead of launching precision smart bombs at specific issues, the C4GB is just setting off a nuke and taking out the good with the bad. Honestly, the idea of this flyer, and that people might actually go and rally against this deal based on half-truths and patent disinformation is quite sad to me.
The Buffalo Record 
tell us how you really feel
Funny, I just spent the evening in Faneuil Hall having drinks outside at Ames Plow Tavern in 87 degree weather after work.
The place was jammed pack with people. The only thing missing was the Skyway.
Folks, we have a blank slate over there – how can we possibly mess it up?
Just build it. We’ll all be dead before anything get’s done.
How sad.
I’d go to this gathering Sunday with bells on and kick up some dust with whoever is doing all this.
But… Sabres Game 3 on at 2PM… You think I’d give that up to listen to their takes at their lame meeting? I dont think so.
This is Tim Tielman’s group. Is there anything he does support?
Curious how something that doesn’t exist can be “wrecked.”
Well, at least we know who the keeper of the “real deal” is.
So utterly predictable…The Campaign for (my version, and my version only, of) Greater Buffalo.
In other news, BuffaloPundit has agreed to reimburse my portion of tax dollars that are being funneled to Bass Pro, and build a pier for Dicks and Gander Mountain.
He’s a swell guy!
My sadness comes from the fact that these people are using up valuable credibility that is important for when real and legitimate preservation efforts are needed in the future. How many real historic sites will be lost because the general public equates preservation with obstructionism like this.
BP is far more eloquent than me, Ryan, but I’d like to ask — to whom would you like to funnel your tax dollars? Ikea? A musuem? An interpretive center? Green space? If you think the little section of the world is going to be developed without tax abatements and other incentives, please pass whatever it is your smoking.
At least Bass Pro or (insert iconic retail establishment here) will return something to the community in the way of jobs and foot traffic in an otherwise barren district of the city.
Got a well-funded better idea? Bring it on.
Ryan – I’m sure there’s something you use that I don’t that gets my tax money. Let’s do a quid pro quo.
A pier out into the parking lot of the Galleria or a plaza in Tonawanda? Okaaaayyy….
I have had food and/or drink at the waterfronts in Boston, Baltimore, San Francisco, Shanghai, Zurich, San Antonio and many other places. I cannot fathom where these anti-development people are coming from. Have they ever visited other cities that actually invested in their waterfronts? All of these waterfronts are different but all have two things in common: Their respective cities made their waterfronts accessible and put up businesses that attracted people.
BTW, the San Francisco Wharf area had canneries. The stores there today – some with well-known names and some with boutique places – sure didn’t try to replicate the look of a cannery but they certainly helped make the Wharf the exciting place that it is today.
The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Oy vey!
When is this “group” going to actually take interest in real endagered historic sites on the the East Side?
Make no mistake, this is NOT preservation but rather about control/power. Does anyone wonder why Buffalo is the incredible shrinking city?
BBD: I totally agree that it seems as though these agitators have never actually left Buffalo and seen a thriving waterfront. Though, living in San Francisco, I would not point to the Wharf as exciting. The Wharf has become so overly commercialized and is mostly full of third rate restaurants, souvenir shops and other tourist traps.
Not a big box you say? But it’s SOOOO out of scale with the historic gravel and weeds!
Keep repeating it… this is not a preservationist issue… it’s revertionism.
Steve, I’ve set up a not-for-profit that employs one employee (me) and I recommend all of my tax dollars be spent there. I prefer none of the alternative options you presented, but since I really don’t have a say in the matter, nor do any of you reading this blog, I’d rather if Ass Pro sent me a nice pair of polypro kayaking pants in recognition of my donation to their corporation.
Pundit, I’ll keep my tax dollars if you keep yours. Sound quid pro quo enough for ya? As far as a pier in the parking lot of the galleria, you hit the nail on the head: it’s absurd. It’s also absurd to provide welfare to Bass Pro while placing other retailers at an economic disadvantage. But, so is life in Yew Nork. Backwards, yet refreshingly juvenile.
Since most of the subsidy is federal and state ryan I figure your share (if you pay taxes) is the amount divided by about 150,000,000 taxpayers. Lets see, that comes to ….Any mathemeticians in the house?
Ryan: It’s not welfare to Bass Pro to assist it in constructing a building to our specifications, the title to which will be held by an entity owned by the State of New York. You have a say in all of this because ostensibly you and I elected the people who set up the ECHDC and set this whole thing up. Don’t like it? Elect some Libertarians.
Ditto the marina. The project was supposed to have a marina for the entire 7 years of planning – it’s just been moved, and instead of the state footing the bill for maintenance, Bass Pro will do it for us.
The idea that no one should pay taxes and that there should be no state to provide certain services is absurd. If we had no state, no taxes, would businesses and people locate here? No, there’d be a massive exodus. Because as imperfect as they might be, people still enjoy things like schools, police and fire protection, road maintenance, and other functions of the state.
You’re right pundit. Years of liberalism and corporate welfare has turned the Buffalo region into one of the greatest places on Earth, as evidenced by our census figures every year. People are flocking here!
And who would dare question the viability of a multi-million dollar taxpayer funded project built upon a crumbling economic base? We should be thrilled to spend our money, even the federal and state dollars taken from me, on politically contrived and bureaucratically executed wet dreams.
If coming up with collegiate simcity models of an urban core makes you feel all fluffy inside, by all means have a good time, but don’t expect me to give you an atta-boy pat on the ass when your model can’t foot the bill on it’s own merits.
Sorry for interrupting your status quo. Now, back to our regularly scheduled program ¡Aló Presidente!
In the immortal words of Jerry Jack of WNIA…”Be Big Be a Builder!!” So Ryan, what have you built lately??
So, Ryan, your alternative is to simply let the “crumbling economic base”, um, crumble? So many words, yet so little to offer.
“So Ryan, what have you built lately”
I actively rehab houses. I don’t have much money, but I’ve managed to do three in the past year on my own dime. Does that count?
“So, Ryan, your alternative is to simply let the “crumbling economic baseâ€, um, crumble?”
The economic base is crumbling because of politics. Using taxpayer dollars to subsidize an Ass Pro is just more of the same failed policies. Subdivide the all of the vacant land currently held by government agencies and auction it off to the highest bidder. Then, if Buffalo is truly worthy of investment, we’ll start seeing some development on the waterfront. Forcing development where the market demands none simply misallocates resources that could be better used elsewhere.
If this site was going to be built upon, we wouldn’t have had to move the Sullivan, Little Rock and Croaker to create an open view of the water for a park that no longer exists. Also, I have little faith in the ECHDC implementing an Architectural Review Committee with any teeth. According to the quote above, this Committee only acts as a consultant. Benderson has final say on design subject to reasonable approval of ECHDC. The ECHDC is all about economic development not best use nor historic use.
I haven’t experienced Bass Pro first hand so I’m trying to trust the politicians on this one. I have doubts that this will be the iconic retailer that everyone portrays it (especially with Dicks and Gander Mountain already in WNY). I would have loved something truly unique like an LL Bean store on par with that in Freeport, ME. I hope Bass Pro will be successful in emulating that experience. Unfortunately, the only person I know who has ever visited a Bass Pro compared the experience to shopping at K-Mart.
If anyone knows of a project that Benderson has done in a city with urban rather than suburban design, I’d love to see it. I’m curious.
That being said, I don’t believe that a green space is critical to that area. Density and diversity of offerings are more important IMO. I think it is important that there are gathering spaces like those at Quincy Market/Fanueil Hall (they don’t need to be the size of a park to accomplish that function IMO). I think that ECHDC and Benderson need to be closely watched to make sure that this doesn’t turn into a city shopping area with all the (lack of) charm of Delaware/Elmwood Ave in North Buffalo.
BR
No more lawsuits. Get the project started ASAP (IMO).
*yawn*… Ryan your arguments are more tired than a whorehouse after a visit from sailors on leave.
Rox —
Having been to both (albeit Bass Pro infrequently), Bass Pro is probably as close as you can get to LL Bean — Freeport. LLB is headquartered in Freeport, so it stands to reason that its store there would be its icon.
I don’t know if Bass Pro is the answer — so many seem so hot because it IS Bass Pro and not something else, but few seem to offer any alternative suggestions. But, Bass Pro appear to be successful everywhere they go, I don’t seem them competing with Dick’s any more or less than Golf Galaxy or Foot Locker competes with Dick’s and, if you want to talk ugly big box, then Gander Mountain should be the target of all this ire.
I was at the Bass Pro in Auburn several months back, mostly out of curiousity. It’s a great looking store in an otherwise non-descript mall. The store and its share of the parking lot were packed, and a quick glance showed about half the cars to have out-of-state plates. This was a Tuesday, late afternoon in mid-January. What’s that mean for Buffalo? Maybe nothing, but something sure works for that retailer.
And, Ryan — auction off government-held properties to the highest bidder? That’s your answer? How did that work out for the AM&A’s building downtown? And, how would that satisfy those longing for an historical (historic?) destination.
“how would that satisfy those longing for an historical (historic?) destination.”
That’s the great part about being the highest bidder. You can build the destination of your choice. AM&A’s will get developed if/when it becomes economically viable to reuse the site. There’s nothing complicated about it. These simple matters of economics are usually covered by 10th grade of high school.
Ryan —
Your “simple matters of economics” ignores the plain fact that in the first auction of AM&A’s, the city had to pay someone to take it off its hands.
Say, just for yuks, I was your high bidder on the land now targeted for Bass Pro and all that’s been proposed. And my plan was to build an oil refinery. Or the waterfront version of Rick’s TallyHo. Pay lots of taxes, create good-paying jobs. Do you think even for a minute that no one would stand in my way?
Economics is simple when you do it in theory only, where the playing field is always level. Making it work in real life, with all its twists, turns and vested interests, is hard.
How does economics ignore the first AM&A’s auction? It fits perfectly. There was zero demand for the property at $1. Negative property values are common in some markets. It’s not the first time something like that has happened and certainly won’t be the last in Buffalo.
As far as your oil refinery, I say best of luck to you. It could be a glue factory or Walmart for all I care. You’re risking your own capital in an attempt to fulfill some desire (money, charity, fame, etc). Have a blast bro. You know what to do with your own money better than I ever will (and vice versa).
Benderson is also eligible for $4 million towards that development plus Empire Zone and other potential credits.
Bass Pro is getting building with no rent and no property taxes to use for 20 years. If that isn’t corporate welfare, what is????
As far as electing libertarians to government, we currently have a system where a 51% majority can impose tyranny on a 49% minority. If the U.S. Constitution was applied as written, that would never happen.
Steve,
Thanks for the insight on Bass Pro in Auburn and vs LL Bean (Freeport). I’ve heard similar stories about Auburn store. I think the store in mind was in a mall in Baltimore. I wonder what the status is on the proposed Pittsburgh area store? It’s not on Bass Pro’s website. If this store goes through, they’re going to need to alter the hunting lodge theme.
Also, nothing on Cabela’s website about a store in the Southern Tier. Cabelas has bellied up to the public funding trough. Cabelas requires existing or funded interstate interchange and community development incentive package.
BR