City of Buffalo starts new strategic planning initiative

Twenty years ago, city officials unveiled the Queen City Hub strategic plan with great fanfare, as the framework to guide initiatives aimed at driving future economic growth, development and investment, particularly in downtown Buffalo. It even won an award from the American Planning Association.

Since the adoption of that plan in 2003, the city has revised and implemented its new Green Code for zoning, introduced new waterfront programming and focused infrastructure and streetscape improvements on Main Street, Michigan Avenue, Niagara Street, Pearl Street, Genesee Street, the Entertainment District and the Skyway. And it’s now pursuing a “smart streets” redesign, beginning with Washington Street.

It also has a new public safety campus downtown and a new federal courthouse. It has seen a range of private-sector development projects that have renovated a host of older buildings and brought new apartments, retailers, restaurants and businesses to the central business district, Canalside and the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. And the population in the city’s core has more than doubled, from 1,500 to 3,500.

But while the Hub remains “a highly relevant document still today,” the continuing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic – particularly, the growth of remote and hybrid work patterns – is posing new challenges for the city and the continued implementation of the plan, said Brendan Mehaffy, executive director of the city’s Office of Strategic Planning.

So city leaders are revisiting the Hub with a new strategic planning initiative designed to produce an updated 2024 Downtown Action Plan that will take such changes into account.

“This isn’t an effort to create a new vision for downtown. We believe the vision for the central business district is still captured in the Queen City Hub plan,” Mehaffy said last week. “We are really questioning the impact of the pandemic on the progression towards that vision that was addressed in the Queen City Hub plan.”

Working with the nonprofit Buffalo Place, as well as building owner trade group NAIOP and the Downtown 2030 group of business leaders, the city plans to review its progress, while also collecting and analyzing data to assess how new trends have affected the city.

That includes the decreased presence by workers in the office and a resulting decline in office space occupancy, which in turn could reduce the value of office buildings, cut the tax base and threaten the viability of real estate holdings.

It also includes less pedestrian and consumer traffic for retailers, and how that could drive vacancies. And it covers a “lack of street vibrancy” that contributes to a heightened sense of risk on the streets.

The city will look at other geographic areas as well, such as Larkinville and the Medical Campus, but “it seems to be much more acute in the central business district in terms of the impact of remote work,” Mehaffy added.

Officials will talk to local businesses, residents, property owners, government agencies, community groups and urban planning experts. About 20 to 30 meetings are planned over the summer. The first meeting, with large landlords, will be July 9. The city hopes to present a final report by September or October.

“This isn’t a conversation that can drag on for two to three years. There are things we can do if we move expeditiously,” Mehaffy said. “In this time of disturbance in the real estate market, this is an opportunity for the City of Buffalo to distinguish itself.”

Buffalo Place has seen lots of success in recent years from its participation in and stewardship of several rounds of Main Street facade-improvement grants for local business owners.

To date, dozens of projects have shared several million dollars in state funding through the New York Main Street and Buffalo Main Street initiatives, designed to help spruce up and revive downtown commercial districts.

So the nonprofit that manages the downtown business improvement district – which has administered the grants – is going to try again. But this time, officials plan to pursue a larger geographic district that would include other downtown streets. And they hope to target building owners who have not received support in the past, by spreading the word and giving preference.

Already, the organization has had interest from 15 owners, including on Washington and Pearl streets. The applications for the new round of the New York Main Street program are due in July.

“It’s only fair to give those outside the district higher priority since they’ve never had the opportunity,” said developer and Buffalo Place board member Rocco Termini – who owns properties that are not on Main.

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Five reads from Buffalo Next:

1. Inside Clarence’s new million-dollar home development.

2. So you want to own a golf course? It’s not all fun and games.

3. The evolution of Viridi Parente in a changing market.

4. Some development projects are running into a new problem: They can’t tap into enough electricity.

5. A closer look at the Rails on Main apartment project.

The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the region’s economic revitalization. Email tips to [email protected] or reach Buffalo Next Editor David Robinson at 716-849-4435.