Business First of Buffalo, July 16, 1990 v6 n39 p4(1)
Architecture class seeks Central Terminal ideas.
James Fink.
COPYRIGHT Business First-Buffalo 1990
The Central Terminal, an East Side complex that is alternately described as an architectural dream and an urban planning nightmare, stands like a beacon on the city skyline.
Almost from the day it opened in 1929, people have viewed the former railroad station as the right building in the wrong place.
The terminal is located on Pederewski Street, 2.5 miles from downtown; several blocks from Broadway, the nearest main thoroughfare; and in a neighborhood that is more residential than commercial.
The last passenger train pulled out of the station in 1979, and it has since served primarily as a focus for unrealized development plans.
Now it is a classroom. And that service eventually may lead to a more appropriate use for the landmark structure.
When New York Central Railroad built the terminal in the mid-1920s, the complex was expected to handle 200 passenger trains a day. But four months after the terminal opened in 1929, the stock market crashed. By the time the economy had recovered, the days of rail supremacy were over.
By the late 1970s, passenger traffic in the terminal was just a dribble. Since it closed, the structure has been used in the filming of two movies. Promoters have tried to use it as a venue for rock and dance concerts. It was even tried out as a large banquet hall. Nothing worked.
Earlier this year, former Buffalonians Sam and Bernie Tuchman announced plans to turn the terminal into an $80 million complex of classy retail, offices, apartments and possibly a hotel. Since then, little has been said about the project.
Former County Executive Edward Rutkowski, a private consultant for the Tuchmans, said, "We are talking about two guys who have a vision and are pursing it aggressively."
But the latest visions for its redevelopment come from a group of students at the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning.
Their assignment was to come up with ideas to bring the Central Terminal back to life. What is significant about the project is that it aimed to set a comprehensive agenda for the terminal and the land around it, and not just come up with a basic development plan for the building.
Beverly Foit-Albert, president of Foit-Albert Associates Architects P.C. of Buffalo, is the UB professor who oversaw the project. She said the Central Terminal was selected for study "because of its importance in the history of the city, its powerful architecture and because it stands vacant and unused."
The goal of the class project was to help create a data base that might be used by a developer.
"We are talking about carefully planned stages," Foit-Albert said. "The area is too big to activate all at once."
The students came up with a variety of proposals that contained a common element. All called for the development of a mixed-use facility.
The students determined the 70-acre site was too much for a single use. Ideas ranged from housing a train museum, office and conference centers, retail offerings and banquet halls to linking the complex to the city's existing park system through construction of a golf course and a new park.
"One thing that is clear is that distance isn't a big problem with the project," Foit-Albert said. "The terminal's location is more a perception problem."
Many of the students proposed connecting the terminal to Buffalo's central business district by Metro Rail extension.
"Use is critical," she said. "We have to find a use that will promote enough activity and not just a place where people come and go sporadically."