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Buffalo's Outer Harbour waterfront has been vacant and publicly inaccessible for years, but a recent approval for a waterfront tower complex may just catalyze the area’s development, transforming the Outer Harbour into a waterfront oasis.
Buffalo Common Council just approved a mandated coastal review application by a 6-3 vote for a tower complex called Queen City Landing, endorsing the construction of the 23-storey apartment tower on the site of the soon-to-be-demolished six-storey Freezer Queen cold-storage building. Some of the elements considered in the Common Council meeting included storm water runoff, migratory bird patterns, environmental impact, and the preservation of the historic storage building. Many council members thought the tower would be a daring addition to the harbour, while others, such as David. A. Rivera, thought the building belonged downtown instead.
While Queen City Landing is being developed on one of the few strips of commercially -owned land, there are nearly 400 acres of publicly owned parcels of land in the Outer Harbour. The developer of the project, Gerald A. Buchheit, said his complex will pioneer harbour developments in Buffalo and hopefully spark new infrastructural growth on Buffalo’s waterfront.
Queen City Landing will house 197 one- and two-bedroom apartments facing Lake Eerie as well as two restaurants, fitness facilities, a three-storey parking ramp, walking paths, and docks for the tenants. Designed by Trautman Associates, the steel and glass tower complex will stand 328 feet tall and has white terraces jutting out from the building to contrast its grey glass facade. The Queen City Landing tower complex is targeted to be completed and ready for tenants in 2017.
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