Downtown Buffalo, NY

My evaluation of Downtown Buffalo includes the entire area between Elmwood and Michigan from west to east and Tupper St to the north south to the Buffalo River. In the Southwest corner of Dwtn where Elmwood Ave turns to the Buffalo Skyway as it doglegs right, I draw an imaginary straight line south to Erie St and thus catch more of the waterfront in this evaluation.

One can tell that Downtown Buffalo was once a grand City by the Historic Architecture still largely in tact. Downtown has a wonderful array of antique skyscrapers (i.e. City Hall, the Electric Tower, Guaranty Bldg, Rand Bldg, Liberty Bldg, etc.). Buffalo’s Art Deco City Hall is one of my favorite City Halls in America. But Downtown Buffalo has struggled to built momentum even since the return to the City movement of the 1990s. Apartment bldg conversions have been limited, the Main Street pedestrian mall conversion of the 70s and construction of Main Place Mall largely failed, and much of Dwtn has languished and feels pretty dead after 9-5 work hours.

Things started to improve for Downtown Buffalo since 2014 with the Canalside development opened new apartment bldgs, office space, and the a new hocky area. This is south of what I consider the core of Dwtn Buffalo. More recently, a plethora of residential conversion and new projects have been announced for the core of Downtown. Main street is being converted back to car traffic (fortunately with major streetscaping and renovation dollars fixing its mostly in-tact but often vacant building stock). Downtown Buffalo still has a long way to go to catch up to the likes of Dwtn Cleveland, Buffalo, Cincy, and Pittsburgh but it seems poised to make significant progress in the 2020s.

Click here to view my Downtown Buffalo Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* ADA infrastructure is generally good but some under invested intersections at the edges of Dwtn with proper curb cuts.
* Downtown Buffalo serves as a solid huge for public transit in the region. At least good public transit through the entire City of Buffalo. This extends a bit to the inner ring suburbs but quickly drops off.
* Good connectively in Dwtn and a nice set of diagonal streets similar to Detroit (but not as good). Lots of wide street s though. Fortunately most of them are 2-ways many have bike lanes on them.
* Dwtn has a nice array of bike lanes. Within the City there is great bike lane coverage along the lake, which extends well north of the City. An ok # of bike lanes in the City. Not great coverage in the suburbs. Great bike share system covering about 60% of the City and extending to some of the northern suburbs.
* Generally good diversity dwtn reflected in its residential demographics and activities. Plenty to do for kids with the AAA ballpark, children’s museum, ships, and other museums.
* Nice concentrations of schools across all grades. Mix bag with ratings.
* Decent college presence dwtn with several smaller colleges adding up to an enrollment of about 5K.
* Pre-pandemic Buffalo had about 50K jobs, a high number for its metro size. Total office space was pretty flat pre-pandemic and vacancy pretty height at ~25%.
* Dwtn is a major gov’t jobs center helped with its large Art Deco City bldg and several court houses. It also hosts a convention center, ballpark & NHL hockey arena & a smaller hocky arena next door. Historic post office is no longer a post office. Large modern library.
* Culturally many theaters (many historic), a cineplex, lots of live music venues & night clubs, plenty of restaurants, bars & cafes, several art galleries, and many museums.
* Great historic architecture. One of the best for its size.
* Buffalo generally holds its urban form together. Only a few streets like Main street are mostly in-tact but most areas of dwtn have over 60% of bldgs remaining. The eastern and southern edges host the most surface parking and low intensity bldgs.

URBAN WEAKNEESES:

* Density is pretty low here. Not a ton of hsg in Dwtn Buffalo.
* For sale housing is pretty limited in Dwtn. Not even any studio options. Some 1-beds (esp. near the waterfront), these sell btwn 200K-350; 2-beds sell btwn 300K-800K, 3-beds are concentrated along the waterfront and sell btwn 500K-1.2M.
* Rentals are very limited for a dwtn area but at least are moderately priced. 1-beds lease in the low 1Ks, 2&3 beds 1.5K-3K.
* Parks are pretty underwhelming Dwtn. There are a handful of nice smaller parks (i.e. Lafayette, Fireman’s, Niagara Sq, Fountain Plaza & Roosevelt) but nothing is outstanding. Decent park at Canalside a waterfront trail for about 1/4 of a mile.
* Fountain Plaza is Buffalo Civic heart but is pretty mediocre in my opinion. The fountain takes up more than half of the space. Some seating and another fountain.
* Pedestrian activity dwtn is so .
* Buzz is slowing growing for Dwtn Buffalo but its coming from a pretty low point. Locals have loathed their Dwtn for a long time.
* Retail amenities are a bit limited dwtn. The best amenity is a local supermarket. Dwtn has a drug store, a handful of boutiques & clothing stores, several banks & dessert joints, plenty of gyms & churches, and decent access to Buffalo General a mile away. Retail amenities dwtn went downhill when the Main Place Mall closed.
* Modern in-fill Dwtn is so . Handful of mid century towers, a couple 80s/90 office bldgs, and some better modern in-fill at Canalside. The Convention Center and the Main Place Mall are examples of unattractive 1960s-1970s in fill.

Allentown- Buffalo’s hippest spot and most walkable neighborhood

Allentown is named after Lewis F. Allen who came to Buffalo in April 1827 to serve as Corporate Secretary and financial manager of an insurance company. Allentown is the first neighborhood north of the Downtown Buffalo core. Its also the first Buffalo neighborhood to experience major revitalization and is known for its community of artists, bohemian and hipster culture, and for a strong commitment to preserving its historic building stock. Allentown is also Buffalo’s premier area for nightlife, music, dining, and antique shopping.

Not surprisingly this is also one of Buffalo best urban districts. As one of the few Buffalo neighborhoods from the 1860s-1900s that is still in tact, Allentown has a great mixed-use and compact feel. As it is only about a mile from Dwtn, I consider this Buffalo’s most walkable neighborhood. All things considered Allentown is pretty moderately priced considering these amenities.

To truly become a great neighborhood Allentown needs more in-fill housing to increase its density (currently sitting at just short of 9K residents per sq mile), redevelop the parking lots sitting at its border with Downtown, add more parking amenities, improve its ADA curbs at about 25% of its intersections, and be a more conducive district to families.

Click here to view my Allentown album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Allentown is located just north of Dwtn. The median distance is about 1 mile allowing one to walk there. Also very convenient transit and bike access. Decent public transit access to the University of Buffalo.
* Great public transit access.
* Solid bike infrastructure including a couple north-south bike lanes and good bike share coverage.
* Great racial diversity and solid economic.
* Generally a good array of walkable schools within or near Allentown with pretty good ratings.
* Good array of rental options generally at moderate prices. studios & 1-beds lease btwn 900-1.6K, 2&3-beds 1.2K-2.5K. Good amount of affordable housing here as well.
* Nice mix of for-sale housing options. 1-bed condos that sell around 200K, 2-beds range anywhere btwn 200K-500K, 3 & 4 beds btwn 300K-800K.
* Great array of historic architecture ranging from the Post Bellum period to the early 20th century.
* Wonderful cultural amenities including many restaurants, bars, cafes, a couple breweries, many live music venues & night clubs, great access to Dwtn’s theater district located a block away, several historic sites, and several art galleries.
* Good retail amenities as well including a supermarket, a couple drug stores, several boutiques & consignment stores, banks, plenty of unique stores & antique shops, a hardware store, good array of gyms & dessert shops, a local post office, several churches and Buffalo General Hospital. This is certainly Buffalo’s most mixed use neighborhood.
* Overall very good urban massing and streetscaping. Southern edge, however, has a lot of parking lots and underutilized spaces next to Dwtn.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* So density. Less than other North and West Buffalo neighborhoods.
* Generational diversity is pretty limited. Pretty few households with Children here. Most residents are young adults.
* Tree canopy is good but not as good as other North Buffalo neighborhoods.
* A couple nice smaller parks but no larger parks here.
* Generally good ADA infrastructure but about 1/4 of all intersections are missing ADA curbs.

Elmwood Village- Buffalo’s Premiere Urban Distrct and Home to the Olmsted Boulevards

For this evaluation I consider Elmwood Village to be between Elmwood Ave to the West and Main St to east. From North to South the district is between Delaware Park and Utica St.

Elmwood has become one of the premiere urban districts in Buffalo. It features over 300 small local shops, coffeehouses, restaurants, bars, and art galleries. In 2007, Elmwood Village was named one of the ‘Top 10 Great Places in America’ by the American Planning Association. It also contains the best preserved segment of Frederick Olmstead and Calvert Vaux’s original parkway system. Historically, an address along the boulevard was home to some of Buffalo’s most prestigious residents. Delaware Avenue is Buffalo’s most regal corridor hosting many historic luxury apartments mansions and other major institutions.

Sadly the neighborhood’s eastern border along Main Street has fallen into disrepair and underinvestment. Main street forms an almost impervious border between North Buffalo’s well maintained districts and the very poor African American neighborhoods of East Buffalo. One can tell that Main street used to be a wonderful urban business district with the buildings that remain. Its also where Buffalo’s solo subway line runs connecting Downtown to the University of Buffalo in Amherst to the northeast. Revitalizing the Main street corridor is the missing piece needed to make the Elmwood Village a truly great urban district. It would also have the benefit and bringing back a thriving commercial district to the disinvested neighborhoods of Cold Spring and Masten Park that border Elmwood Village to the east.

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Overall great ADA and sidewalk infrastructure throughout. Only a handful of intersection without proper ADA curb cuts.
* Great public transit access bolstered by the Main St Subway line. Because of this Elmwood Village is very convenient to Dwtn and has decent transit access to the UB.
* Great coverage in Elmwood Village by the Buffalo bike share. Decent dedicated bike lane coverage.
* Great economic and decent racial diversity.
* Decent # of walkable schools. The private schools are rated well and the public are rated poorly.
* Crime is pretty low here. Blight and crime pick up near Main Street, the district’s east border.
* Great tree canopy.
* Great access to parks in the northern half of the neighborhood (Delaware Park, Lincoln & Chapin Pkwy), but pretty limited in the southern half.
* Excellent historic architecture.
* Good # of rentals at moderate and higher end prices. 1-beds lease btwn 1K-1.8K, 2 & 3 beds 1.5K-2.8K.
* Good number of quality modern apartments mixed throughout Elmwood Village.
* Vibrant commercial nodes, pedestrians a bit sparse on residential streets.
* Great local buzz here.
* Great cultural amenities including many restaurants, bars & cafes, several art galleries, museums, and live music venues.
* Great retail amenities as well with a co-op store, a Topps, a couple drug stores, tons of boutiques & gift stores, a couple bookstores, several dessert joints & gyms, tons of churches.
* Good urban form and streetscaping along Elmwood. Main street is pretty rough.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Generational diversity isn’t great as households with kids is limited and most of the population are young adults.
* For sale housing are def more on the high side but decent # of more affordable condos. 1-bed condos sell btwn 100Ks-400K, 2-beds anywhere btwn the low 200Ks and 500K. 3 & 4 beds homes sell anywhere btwn 250K-800K. Larger are selling in the low Millions.
* The district’s eastern edge along Main street is severly underinvested.

Forest- Another West Buffalo Neighborhood surrounding Buffalo Psychiatric

Forest is neighborhood is the northern segment of the larger Upper West District, which also includes the Grant Ferry neighborhood to the South. Forest was developed around the turn of the 19th century and was known as a traditional landing zoning for immigrants thanks to its convenient location near the Lake and many jobs. Grant Ferry initially welcomed many Sicilian immigrants. In the 50s-70s it became home to many Puerto Rican and SE Asian enclaves. Most recently large Somali, Bhutanese, Sudanese, Middle Eastern, Eastern European, and Hispanic immigrants.

Like many American neighborhoods disinvestment came to the Forest neighborhood in the 70s. Historically Grant Street was the blight line dividing more blight and “immigrant” areas to the west and more stable and “White” areas to the east. This is not as hard and fast of a line as it is for the Grant Ferry neighborhood to the south. But unlike East Buffalo, Forest was mostly left standing thanks to a large influx of immigrants.

Gentrification is making the traditional Grant St blight line more and more fuzzy as North Buffalo’s revitalization pushes westward. More and more homes around and west of Grant St are being fully renovated and selling in the 200Ks and low 300Ks. The revitalization of Grant St is also coming along. Niagara St along the lake recently received a streetscaping overhaul, although still has many missing teeth. Overall Grant Ferry has great public transit, bike infrastructure, diverse housing, great racial & economic diversity, solid cultural & retail amenities, and generally good urban form. Main areas for improvement include: revitalization of Grant Street, need for more parks, better schools, and more diverse for-sale options and more apartments.

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Quality public transit access.
* Only 3 miles from Dwtn. Only a 15 minute drive and 28 min bus ride. University of Buffalo is pretty easy to drive to, but challenging transit trip.
* Good bike infrastructure with plenty a nice north-south bike lane on Niagara and diagonal one on Bidwell Parkway.
* Good diverse across all categories.
* Decent amount of rental housing that’s pretty affordable. 1-beds range btwn $850-1.4K, & 3 beds generally btwn 1K-2k.
* Good mix of affordable, moderately priced, and high end housing. 2-beds sell btwn low 125K to low 200ks, 3 & 4 beds sell btwn the low 100Ks-700K.
* Great historic architecture in both residential and commercial areas.
* Very good sidewalk infrastructure and generally consistant ADA curbs but sometimes its missing.
* Good cultural amenities including many restaurants, bars, cafes, several art galleries, a couple live music venues, and several museums either within or near the Forest neighborhood.
* Good retail amenities as well including a Co-op grocery store, a farmer’s market store front, a couple grocerias, a couple boutiques & consignment stores, several book stores, a post office, only a couple churches, and great access to the psychiatric hospital.
* Not a ton of modern in-fill but some good mixed use and commercial bldgs along Grant and Elmwood St.
* Urban massing and streetscape are great along Elmwood. Massing is decent along Grant. Niagara is a mixed bag. Lots of warehouses and autocentric industrial businesses mixed together but new streetscaping here.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Several schools on the edges of the neighborhood but not the heart of it. Mixed ratings.
* Crime issues are certainly getting better but plenty of blight and crime issues still west of Ferry Street.
* Decent Park space access but certainly better than neighboring Grant Ferry. There is a nice splash pad park, Bidwell Parky, access to the green space of the State Hospital, and decent access to Delaware Park (.5-1 mile from the neighborhood).
* Condo for sale options are largely missing from the Grant Ferry housing market. There also are few larger apartment buildings. This would go a long way towards adding density to the district.

Grant Ferry- A West Buffalo Neighborhood on the Rise

The Grant Ferry is neighborhood is a segment of the larger Upper West District, which also includes the Forest neighborhood to the north. Grant Ferry was developed around the turn of the 19th century and was known as a traditional landing zoning for immigrants thanks to its convenient location near the Lake and many jobs. Grant Ferry initially welcomed many Sicilian immigrants. In the 50s-70s it became home to many Puerto Rican and SE Asian enclaves. Most recently large Somali, Bhutanese, Sudanese, Middle Eastern, Eastern European, and Hispanic immigrants.

Like many American neighborhoods disinvestment came to the Grant Ferry neighborhood in the 70s. Historically Grant Street was the blight line dividing more blight and “immigrant” areas to the west and more stable and “White” areas to the east. Streets west of here get progressively worse and streets east of here get progressively more stable as one moves to Elmwood Avenue. But unlike East Buffalo, Grant Ferry was mostly left standing thanks to a large influx of immigrants.

Gentrification is making the traditional Grant St blight line more and more fuzzy as North Buffalo’s revitalization pushes westward. More and more homes around and west of Grant St are being fully renovated and selling in the 200Ks and low 300Ks. The revitalization of Grant St seems to be lagging behind but hopefully will pick up pace. Niagara St along the lake recently received a streetscaping overhaul, although still has many missing teeth. Overall Grant Ferry has great public transit, bike infrastructure, diverse housing, great racial & economic diversity, solid cultural & retail amenities, and generally good urban form. Main areas for improvement include: revitalization of Grant Street, need for more parks, better schools, and more diverse for-sale options and more apartments.

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Solid Density
* Quality public transit access.
* Only 2-3 miles from Dwtn. Only a 10 minute drive and 20 min bus ride. University of Buffalo is pretty easy to drive to, but challenging transit trip.
* Great bike infrastructure with plenty of bike shares and a pair of convenient north-south dedicated bike lanes.
* Excellent diversity, especially racial.
* Good # of walkable schools in the neighborhood but mixed ratings.
* Decent amount of rental housing that’s pretty affordable. 1-beds range btwn $800-1.2K, 2-beds generally in the mid 1ks, 3-beds lease btwn the low 1Ks and mid 2ks.
* Good mix of affordable, moderately priced, and high end housing. 2-beds sell btwn low 100Ks to mid 200Ks, 3 & 4 beds sell btwn the low 100Ks-500K.
* Very good sidewalk infrastructure and generally consistant ADA curbs but sometimes its missing.
* Good cultural amenities including many restaurants, bars & cafes, a couple art galleries & breweries and a couple community theaters.
* Good retail amenities as well including a Save a Lot, A Co-op, plenty of ethnic grocerias, a hardware store, a couple home goods stores, salons & barbershops, a drug store, several banks, a good number boutiques, gift shops, & consignment stores, a couple dessert joints, and several churches.
* Urban massing and streetscape are great along Elmwood. Massing is decent along Grant but its very warn down by blight. Niagara is a mixed bag. Lots of warehouses and autocentric industrial businesses mixed together but new streetscaping here.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Condo for sale options are largely missing from the Grant Ferry housing market. There also are few larger apartment buildings. This would go a long way towards adding density to the district.
* Crime issues are certainly getting better but plenty of blight and crime issues still west of Ferry Street.
* Parks are pretty limited. The only parks in Grant Ferry include Colonial Circle, Broderick Park (a small part of Unity Island) and a playground.
* Some good modern in-fill along Elmwood but generally pretty limited west of here. What does exist is often crummy autocentric uses.