In an effort to make sure that downtown Buffalo’s Canal Side development has a strong cultural presence, the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. has taken a major step forward in bringing that to fruition.
ECHDC directors, Tuesday morning, approved hiring Lord Cultural Resources of Toronto to develop a Canal Side Visitor Experience Master Plan to specifically focus on bringing that aspect to the transformative downtown project. Lord Cultural will be paid no more than $255,000 and its report is due back by April 2011. The report will serve as the blueprint for how and where to bring cultural groups into Canal Side.
More than 50 cultural groups have expressed an interest in locating or having a presence inside the 20-acre Canal Side footprint, that runs along Main Street between the New York State Thruway and HSBC Arena. Culturals are expected to play a key role in bringing a critical mass of visitors to Canal Side.
“There was always a sense that this is a destination,” said Mindy Rich, an ECHDC director. “This could be a portal. We want to make Canal Side not just an attraction, but a destination.”
Jordan Levy, ECHDC chairman, said the agency has been approached by a wide range of cultural groups about having a presence at Canal Side. One group, the Ira G. Ross Aerospace Museum, which is currently in HSBC Arena, is already negotiating with the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority about leasing significant portions of the DLW Terminal’s second floor for its exhibition space.
“We getting queries from a diverse group from those backing a weather museum to some who want to build a Cheerios museum and everything in between,” Levy said Same day payday loans.
Cheerios are one of the cereals made at the General Mills plant, just south of the Canal Side footprint.
“The report will help us figure out all the diversity, so we can make some good selections,” Levy said.
At the same time, an outdoor art committee, chaired by Louis Grachos, Albright-Knox Art Gallery executive director, has been formed to consider how and where outdoor pieces of artwork will be displayed within the Canal Side footprint.
Besides the Lord Cultural contract, the ECHDC directors also agreed to go after a $3 million federal grant to help finance planning for a connecting bridge between downtown Buffalo and the Outer Harbor. Two sites are under consideration — one at the foot of Main Street behind HSBC Arena and the other off of Erie Street.
Both carry a potential $100 million development cost and would rely heavily on state and federal funding.
The new federal grant, under the TIGER II program, has an Aug. 23 application deadline. The grants are expected to be awarded later this fall.
“We’re trying to get deeper into the design stage,” said Tom Dee, ECHDC president. “The grant will take us further along.”
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