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If this plan comes off, I'll be interested in seeing where the residents come from. Are they newcomers to the Buffalo metro? Suburban urban wannabes? Refugees from the high prices in Allentown, Elmwood, Delaware District?
My gut feeling is that they won't be "native" Buffalonians who lived all their lives in Buffalo unless they were born and raised on the East Side. Main Street is a line of demarcation that Buffalonians have traditionally not crossed. At first glance, looking at the city today, one would assume it was a racial thing, but it predates blacks coming to Buffalo in appreciable numbers (ie, beginning during WW II).
The residential areas west of Main Street were always considered more desirable. It was where Buffalo's upper crust always lived, beginning with Johnson Park in the 1830s and continuing northward up Delaware Avenue as the city expanded. One of the reasons that redevelopment and gentrification has been more prevalent on the West Side is simply because the housing is of better quality: lots of Victorian mansions, would-be mansions, and upper middle class homes of the near-rich.
It used to be that nobody raised on the WS would consider moving to the East Side because it was considered a "step down". It will be interesting to see if this old tradition holds true.
If this plan comes off, I'll be interested in seeing where the residents come from. Are they newcomers to the Buffalo metro? Suburban urban wannabes? Refugees from the high prices in Allentown, Elmwood, Delaware District?
My gut feeling is that they won't be "native" Buffalonians who lived all their lives in Buffalo unless they were born and raised on the East Side. Main Street is a line of demarcation that Buffalonians have traditionally not crossed. At first glance, looking at the city today, one would assume it was a racial thing, but it predates blacks coming to Buffalo in appreciable numbers (ie, beginning during WW II).
The residential areas west of Main Street were always considered more desirable. It was where Buffalo's upper crust always lived, beginning with Johnson Park in the 1830s and continuing northward up Delaware Avenue as the city expanded. One of the reasons that redevelopment and gentrification has been more prevalent on the West Side is simply because the housing is of better quality: lots of Victorian mansions, would-be mansions, and upper middle class homes of the near-rich.
It used to be that nobody raised on the WS would consider moving to the East Side because it was considered a "step down". It will be interesting to see if this old tradition holds true.
I think you are right and given the potential for more development in that area, there may be a ripple effect as well and perhaps blending into the more stable parts of South Buffalo.
I also wouldn't be surprised if neighborhood just east of Main, in between Downtown and Hamlin Park(if not into/through that neighborhood) start seeing interest due to the rail line and proximity to colleges, medical facilities and of course Downtown. So, this project may start "something".
I think you are right and given the potential for more development in that area, there may be a ripple effect as well and perhaps blending into the more stable parts of South Buffalo.
I also wouldn't be surprised if neighborhood just east of Main, in between Downtown and Hamlin Park(if not into/through that neighborhood) start seeing interest due to the rail line and proximity to colleges, medical facilities and of course Downtown. So, this project may start "something".
There has been some redevelopment and a bit of gentrification on Main and just east, mostly in the area of Hamlin Park and the Medical Campus. My sense is that these pioneers are mostly transplants, albeit fairly long time residents, rather than "natives".
Unless you can clean up the area around the terminal, this might be a bust.
There is still a long way to go but there has already been a significant clean up in the last few years in the immediate area (not yet on the nearby section of Broadway). Fewer boarded up houses, cleaner properties, better managed landscaping, etc. But, still a long way to go.
There is still a long way to go but there has already been a significant clean up in the last few years in the immediate area (not yet on the nearby section of Broadway). Fewer boarded up houses, cleaner properties, better managed landscaping, etc. But, still a long way to go.
It wouldn't be a new thing if such areas get revitalized, as major cities across the country have brought once blighted neighborhoods back to life. So, it is possible in such neighborhoods in Buffalo as well.
The large 3 story old Sears building has been vacant for over 30 or 40 years
at Broadway & Fillmore, the old K-Mart across the Broadway market has been vacant
for like 10 years, and on Google maps earth, a couple blocks east of the market
It looks like they torn down a whole city block and replaced it with a new shell plaza on Broadway
that looks vacant too on Google earth.
If the "Depot" was downtown, it would of been long developed and fully occupied.
Amazing the state is pushing for $1,000,000,000 (as in billion) for extend that useless 'trucking subsidy' called the '219', but there is no money to bring back a landmark which would turn around the east side.
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