Before the pandemic hit, it looked as if downtown Buffalo was picking up some great momentum. After the pandemic, not so much. A number of restaurants closed including Dinosaur, Misuta Chows, Osteria 166, Toutant, and Graylnn, although a couple of new ones have opened up such as 617 Main, Bad Neighbors, ThaBodiCorp, and Old City Pizza.
In order to get some things moving and shaking, Buffalo Urban Development Corporation (BUDC) has introduced three new placemaking projects, which has generated a bit of a buzz. At the same time, it’s going to take a lot more than that to get downtown back up to speed.
It is interesting to note that Buffalo is not alone when it comes to sleepier downtown environments. Numerous other cities are also attempting to figure out what the solutions are, to retain office workers for longer stints, and to drive more people to the urban core.
If you were to ask me, I would say that we need more people living in the heart of downtown. While that would certainly help to address the situation, that is not an overnight solution – the conversion costs from office to residential are way too high, and would not be possible at this time without financial help from New York State, or from federal funding sources to help offset the costs…