Bass Pro: I think if we’re counting, we’re up to the third agreement. The first being the original MOU, the second being the barely-binding “pre-development agreement” involving the sacred Central Wharf, and the third being a new “pre-development agreement” involving the Aud.
The Aud itself is slated for asbestos removal and subsequent demolition. The Donovan building next door should be gone before the year is out.
The Buffalo Record 
I remember when everyone got all hopped up and excited about the image in the picture. It was the day Bass Pro “agreed” to that design and things were moving forward. As I suspected then and posted about frequently, that plan was not agreed to by any parties and six months later, we’re just getting around to a “non-binding pre-development agreement”.
Not to make this about them, (but simply because they posted the full litany of mockups and images), Buffalo Rising led the charge with the Bass Pro elevator to the moon project. Looking at that design in your image and the others that Newell posted, it was clear to me that no one had given much thought to any of it and the whole mockup was hastily thrown together without a dose of reality. Don’t you love how the amalgam of one and two way streets to nowhere intersect with pools of water in front of the store?
Everyone involved started slapping each other on the back because of the genius design that came of the Tielman/Bass Pro fracas.
We still have to have these new Bass Pro generated plans reviewed by both the Buffalo Planning Board and Tim Tielman, Inner Harbor Consultant, so I wouldn’t start sucking each others dicks just yet…
If it gets built in 2010, it will be over 20 years from the initial discussions that took place between Bob Rich and his fishing buddy, Johnny Morris. Ay yi yi. Welcome to Buffalo.
Chris, I’m sincerely trying to have my children join in the community dialogue that wnymedia tries to establish. Quite frankly these kids are more in tune with a lot of what should happen than the adults (I’ve heard world renowned planners say that if you want to know how to plan a project ask a fifth grader). I’d prefer to get my kids engaged more sooner than later. Even if my son is only nine I have him thinking about the same stuff you all are thinking about. But how can I let him view this website with this: “I wouldn’t start sucking each others dicks just yet…” ?
My kids will hear it all soon enough I know, and wnymedia.net is your baby, but I thought you should also know other perspectives on the limits of the marketplace of ideas.
Graciously, Mike
Good point Mike, I’ll make the effort to clean up the language. Normally, I don’t post profanity…
thanks my friend!
Why would BassPro build anything in Buffalo? If one of the Rich family didn’t own a home in Florida next to the home of the President of Bass Pro, this whole sorry developmental soap opera would have never taken place. There is nothing in Buffalo that BassPro needs. Please moth ball the whole sad and sorry saga and throw it in the closet. It’s a waste of time.
You all aren’t the only ones getting the Bass Pro run-a-round. The Memphis, TN Pyramid (empty since FedEx Forum finished,)on the Mississippi River, has been in “negotiations” for a few years down here. Non-binding development agreements, extensions for further study, etc. Sounds like your story. Check out the stories in the “Commercial Appeal”, the local Memphis paper.