![The Urban Design Project : Queen City Hub Plan [header images/logo]](../../../images/headerHub.jpg)
The Vision : Downtown is a Regional Center
Downtown Buffalo has to be a specific type of regional center, one that builds on its strengths as the hub of each of several regional economies. The vision for Downtown emphasizes these basic assets and completes the infill elements necessary to make it a great place to live, work, and play. The existing regional economies at the core of the vision include our culture and entertainment base, our medical services and research base, and our commerce and government center status.
Culture and Entertainment
Downtown Buffalo is a regional center for culture and entertainment. Substantial recent investments in Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Studio Arena Theatre, the Buffalo Transportation Pierce Arrow Museum, Sphere Entertainment Complex, Mudpies, Dunn Tire Park, Andrews Theatre of the Irish Classical Theatre Company, and nearby Kleinhans Music Hall help confirm Downtown’s role as a regional center. The $14 million invested in Shea’s enabled it to move from thirty relatively modest shows to sixty first-rate shows a year. As a result of these and other investments, employment in the restaurant business in Downtown is growing at a faster rate than anywhere else in the region. Plan proposals for additional investments in the Erie Canal Harbor, for heritage sites along Michigan Avenue, and for continued investment in the historic stock of Downtown buildings and districts all add to this economy.
Health Services
The creation of a world-class Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus on the northeast corner of Downtown reinforces the branding of Downtown as a regional, if not global, center. It begins with the Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Buffalo Life Sciences Complex with its collaboration among the University at Buffalo’s Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics, the Roswell Park Cancer Institute Center for Genetics and Pharmacology, and the Hauptman- Woodward Medical Research Institute Structural Biology Research Center. These projects are setting the standard for the success of the campus. The combination of research and medical technology facilities and programs will further reinforce the regional prominence of Downtown.
Commerce and Government Clusters
Downtown Buffalo is already the center for government, finance, banking, and legal services in the region. The infrastructure is well established and reliable, there are quality sites for infill development and there is a surplus of existing structures appropriate for adaptive reuse to provide adequate space to build up these commerce clusters. A new building code, simpler procedures for permit acquisition, and a clear vision of Downtown as a center of regional commerce reinforce its appeal as a location for business. Of course government, finance, insurance, and real estate operations should already consider a Downtown location first. This will become increasingly true as the rest of the strategy is implemented, addressing parking, access, residential life, neighborhood services, and retailing along with culture and entertainment.
All of these sectors of the economy fit within the five strategic investment areas outlined in the Overview and detailed in this volume of the plan. The Queen City Hub envisions the continued reinforcement of the existing sectors of the Downtown economy and adds an emphasis on education.
