Category: PostEvents

Pumpkins are to fall, what trees are to Christmas. They’re the symbol of the season. And just as I would head out to the country to hand-select my Christmas tree, so is true for my pumpkins. Every year, my family is on the hunt for that perfectly round, perfectly plump, bright orange fruit (yep, fruit. Look it up.) to adorn our front porch… and then attack with a carver’s knife.

If you’re making a visit to Western New York this fall and looking for some of the local’s favorite pumpkin patches, here’s where to head:

Great Pumpkin Farm

The fall harvest is upon us and there’s no better way to celebrate than taking a trip out to Clarence for their annual Fall Festival. Munch on a candied apple, pick out the biggest pumpkin to carve, wander through their enormous Bills-themed corn maze and take a spooky haunted hayride at this family-fun event.

11199 Main Street, Clarence | greatpumpkinfarm.com

Kelkenberg Farm

Despite being open year-round, even the Kelkenberg family would admit that autumn is one of the best times to visit the Farm. Admission to their Clarence farm includes a hayride, pony rides for children, visiting all animals in the barns, a pumpkin from the patch, bouncing on the giant bounce pad (weather permitting) and many other barnyard activities.

9270 Wolcott Road, Clarence Center | kelkenbergfarm.com

Becker Farms

One of the most popular fall destinations in Western New York! If you’re traveling on the weekend, buy your tickets in advance to their ‘Fall Fun at the Farm’ event that includes a credit towards the pumpkin of your choice, amongst a variety of other autumnal activities like corn mazes, farm animal exhibits, jumping pillows, rope mazes and a beer garden for adults!

3724 Quaker Road, Gasport | beckerfarms.com

Awald Farms

Their Giant Pumpkin Patch is now open for the season. As the name suggests, they have an incredible selection of pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, gourds, white pumpkins, squash, homemade treats and more. Savor your favorite season and snap some family photos in their sunflower fields and pumpkin patch too.

10692 Walnut Avenue, North Collins | (716) 337-3162

Wheatfield Pumpkin Farm

If this adorable little pumpkin farm doesn’t put you in the mood for fall, nothing will. Pick a pumpkin from their patch, enjoy a daytime hayride and get lost in the corn maze.

6920 Nash Road, North Tonawanda | (716) 693-6407

Harris Farm

The smell of fresh donuts and pies out of their bakery oven will lead you straight to Gasport and Harris Farm. Their pumpkin selection comes in all shapes and sizes to fulfill your fall decorating needs.

8481 Ridge Road, Gasport | (716) 772-5229

Akron Acres

It’s the antique tractor drawn hayride to their pumpkin patch that sets Akron Acres apart from others. Hayrides begin Saturday, September 26th in September and continue every Saturday and Sunday (plus Columbus Day) through October 24th. During the weekends the animal barns are open, pony rides are available for the kids and the corn maze is open.

12607 Stage Road, Akron | akronacres.com

Greg’s U-Pick

This Clarence farm has some of the most unique fall experiences in town. The U-Pick pumpkin patch opens October 1st. Enjoy a scenic wagon ride right through the heart of their 120+ acre farm to the “Back 40”. Your admission includes a u-pick pumpkin as big as you can carry, access to the corn maze, a corn crib where kids can play in their shelled corn pit, pumpkin bowling, pumpkin tic tac toe, pumpkin checkers and more! Greg’s has thousands of pumpkins to choose from!

9270 Lapp Road, Clarence Center | gregsupick.com

Pumpkinville

With a name like Pumpkinville, how could it not be on your pumpkin hit list? This 200-acre farm near Ellicottville puts you in the autumnal mood with its panoramic views of gorgeous fall foliage. Watch the apple cider making process, enjoy the farm animals and choose the perfect pumpkins from the thousands available. For the full farm experience, use their pumpkin barrows and explore their five acre patch. 

4844 Sugartown Road, Great Valley | pumpkinville.com

The post 9 Pumpkin Patches for Fall Outings in WNY appeared first on Visit Buffalo Niagara.

The City of Buffalo has narrowed the number of proposals for redeveloping the Mohawk Ramp site from six to three.  According to a Selection Committee, the three proposals that best met the evaluation criteria were:

BFC Partners and CB Emmanuel Realty
Douglas Development
SAA EVI, McGuire Development and Passero Associates

Dropped from consideration were:

Gold Wynn and Colby Development
Savarino and 34 Group
Uniland Development

The City is now seeking resident input on the three finalists.

“The Mohawk Parking Ramp site presents a unique opportunity to create a substantial mixed-use development near some of Buffalo’s largest office buildings, prized entertainment and restaurant venues, and transit, including the NFTA metro rail and numerous NFTA bus lines,” Mayor Brown said. “Now we want to hear from the public on the proposals submitted by the three finalists. This is a great opportunity to have a voice in what will be a game-changing project in the heart of downtown Buffalo.”

The public can learn more about the proposals from the three development team finalists, including overviews and key element highlights, and take the proposal survey by visiting: www.buffalony.gov/Mohawk.

The survey will be live for comment submissions through Friday, October 8, 2021 at 5 p.m. Comments are limited to 1000 characters. All comments will be shared with the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning Development Team and members of the Mohawk Ramp Selection Committee.

The 629-space parking ramp, which was built in 1959, occupies a 1.1-acre site along Mohawk Street between Ellicott and Washington Streets.

The Finalists:

BFC Partners and CB Emmanuel Realty (entry image and below)

Components:

203 affordable units
23,113 sq.ft. of commercial space
Mix of restaurant, fitness center, flagship retail or co-working space
285 parking spots
Visual activation of Mohawk Street
GO bike long term parking facilities
Partnering with GO Buffalo Niagara/Go Bike Buffalo

Douglas Development

Components:

600 residential units total on multiple sites
200 new apartments and 300 new parking spaces above the existing parking garage with 10 percent dedicated to affordable housing
1,500 sq.ft. café along Mohawk Street
1,500 sq.ft. R&D Lab on the ground floor that will on-cover the future of mobility in Buffalo
1,500 sq.ft. floor retail along Washington Street
Over 800 parking spaces total on the site
Redevelopment and adaptive reuse of the Simon properties near the Mohawk Ramp site providing 400 new apartments with 10 percent dedicated to affordable housing and additional ground floor retail

SAA EVI, McGuire Development and Passero Associates

Components:

233 apartments; 168 will be income-restricted
Existing parking structure removed
268 new parking spaces on three levels
6,500 sq.ft. ground floor retail
Mohawk Commons Incubation Hub to focus on M/WBE start-ups
2,300 sq.ft. 13th floor restaurant
Mobility Alley along the northern property line create an east-west mobility spine to promote foot traffic through the site
Interior courtyard located at the center of the building

Proposal evaluation criteria includes:

A. Quality of Plan

Must incorporate transportation and justify use choices that reflect high demand for transit access to downtown and downtown living
Preference for proposal that incorporate housing, including affordable housing
Diversity and inclusion must be incorporated and must demonstrate a plan for meaningful participate from certified MWBE, workforce participation, or mentor protégé opportunities at all project levels (financing, management, design and construction

B. Experience and Qualifications

Experience in working with and partnering with communities, neighbors and business stakeholders
Neighborhood economic development & job creation
Diversity within the development team

C. Financial Considerations

Complete budget, sources and uses and a reasonable development budget
Financial feasibility based on reasonable development and operating proforma
Demonstrated financial capacity to complete the project

D. Competitive Preferences

Preference given to mixed-use developments that incorporate affordable housing
Proposals that envision creative and cost-effective solutions for structured parking transportation centers will be favorable
Submissions with strong community engagement plans and that meet or exceed MWBE goals will be more favorable
Submissions that consider an activation of the street level and increase urban vibrancy while facilitating pedestrian and bicycle friendly streetscape will be more favorable
Submissions that consider overall improvement to the public realm will be more favorable

Douglas Development has tipped its hand on what redevelopment of the Simon Electric properties downtown could entail.  Renderings and massing were included in the developer’s Mohawk Ramp RFP package.  Douglas Development has the Simon Properties under contract. The properties were first put up for sale in 2019. Despite strong interest, Simon never completed a deal. The holdings include seven buildings with 80,500 sq.ft. of space and a total 1.78 acres of property.

Douglas’ plans call for 400 residential units and commercial space on the Simon sites and 200 units on the Mohawk Ramp parcel.  Ten percent of the units would be affordable.

Back of Burns Building addition, looking north on Ellicott.

Development would occur in three phases over three years beginning with a two-level addition to the parking ramp and reuse of the Burns Building at 25 E. Huron Street with a new structure on the parking lot next to it along Ellicott Street

Phase two includes 250 units along the east side of Ellicott Street north of E. Huron Street while preserving existing historic structures.

The third phase would see 200 units on four levels added to the top of the new Mohawk Ramp.  Total project cost is estimated at $153 million. Developer Douglas Jemal says he will move forward with his plans even if his proposal for the Mohawk Ramp site is rejected in favor of one of the two remaining competing plans.

In an opening scene that introduces one of the main themes of Steven Soderbergh’s aspiring noir thriller, Curt Goynes (Don Cheadle), a thoughtful, wary, and armed ex-con, struggles to determine if he can trust a white guy named Jones (Brendan Fraser), who has offered him a lot of money ($3,000 in 1954, when the film is set) for 3 hours of “baby-sitting.” More decisions about trust follow. Can Curt trust and work with enigmatic Ronald Russo (Benicio Del Toro) and hot-headed Charley (Kieran Culkin, who here inhabits much the same role as the irresponsible, smartest-guy-in-the-room jerk he portrays in the TV drama, “Succession”)?  

As savvy and calculating as Curt is, there’s no predicting the unpredictable. Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) found out the hard way in the noir classic “Double Indemnity” (1944), when his plan to commit a murder and fake a suicide runs up against a stranger occupying the train’s normally empty rear platform. In “He Walked by Night” (1949), the protagonist is shot by police when a car randomly parked on a manhole cover prevents his escape. 

Left to right – Don Cheadle as Curt, and Benicio Del Toro as Ronald

There’s more than contingency to writer Ed Solomon’s script (“Men in Black” [1997] and the Bill and Ted series). Curt, Russo, Charley, and the bean-counting accountant Matt Wertz (David Harbour) are all guilty of over-reaching, of wanting more from life—more from a given situation than it ought reasonably be expected to produce, of continually imagining how their world might be rearranged to yield more (usually more money or more sex or more of both). The implication is that overreaching is a universal human condition. Big-shot investor Mike Lowen (an uncredited Matt Damon) makes this all too clear in his own moment of over-reach—this one into the pitfall of the didactic—lecturing Curt and Ronald across an enormous corporate boardroom table on their failure to recognize that they have no control, that real power resides with those above them (whether mafia bosses or business moguls)—and always will.

Of the dozens of characters in the film, there aren’t many one can care about.  Curt and Ronald are major presences (and the beneficiaries of understated performances by acting pros), to the point where it could be tempting to label “No Sudden Move” a “buddy film”—except that no real bond of intimacy is formed, and Ronald is only too ready to sacrifice Curt for his own greed. Matt Wertz, like Walter Neff, is not so much evil as naïve and in over his head, but he’s too comically pathetic to warrant our embrace. Curt, for all his faults and failures of judgment, appears to have some moral core, one that’s recognized (for our benefit) by an old girlfriend and, thankfully, an instinct for survival. With the exception of the Damon character, who seems cut and pasted into the script, we’re offered life’s lessons from people on the bottom rung of the organized crime ladder, all of whom are presented as unimportant and dispensable. Curt is a protagonist with whom we can empathize, but only barely.

The prolific and award-winning Soderbergh seems most interested in being slavishly faithful to the “Madmen”-like settings and atmosphere of dimly-lit Detroit in the mid-1950s (to the point of bringing back Jon Hamm in a detective role, with a slight-enough presence that we don’t care about him—or the perspective of law enforcement—either). 

Among other shortcomings is the failure to create full-fledged female characters.

Among other shortcomings is the failure to create full-fledged female characters. The women in the film are stereotypes, whether of the era or the noir genre. Matt’s wife, Mary (Amy Seimetz) is a dysfunctional housewife, overwhelmed by life’s daily requirements, addicted to booze and smoking, though she somehow summons the self-composure to offer her husband a puff on her cigarette in a touching late scene that’s as close to “making the couple” as the screenplay can manage. The “girl” in the office, Paula, and crook Frank Capellli’s wife Vanessa (Frankie Shaw, Julia Fox and Ray Liotta as Frank)—seem to want nothing more than to have money and an affair with someone—Wertz or just some guy named Phil, though they are also classic noir femme fatale types, pushing the men in their lives to over-reach and, in Vanessa’s case, willing to kill to have her way.

The plethora of characters is matched by an overly complex, intentionally obtuse plot that circulates around two much-valued documents: a ten-year-old notebook of mafia contacts; and specifications for a recently invented device—a catalytic converter—which the auto companies have conspired to keep secret so they don’t have to improve their gas guzzlers. The politics and economics of the catalytic converter are not central to the film, but they are part of a rudimentary critique of capitalism that includes off-handed and brief racial takes on urban renewal, bank red-lining, and anti-Semitism. More important than these minor references to capitalist abuses is the film’s equivalence of big business and the mafia—as if they were simply different versions of the same evil. 

As one might expect from Soderbergh (“Sex, Lies and Videotape” [1989] and “Logan Lucky” [2017]), the film has its quirky elements and its tense moments. But they’re not enough to save “No Sudden Move” from being just another noir movie (hardly a “thriller”), this one gussied up with elaborate period furnishings and fashions and a famous actor speechifying in a cameo role. You might be better off watching Walter Neff squirm. 

Lead image: Three petty crooks meet in an Italian restaurant. Left to right – Ray Liotta as Frank, Benicio Del Toro as Ronald, and Don Cheadle as Curt.”​

Date: 2021

Stars: 2.5 (out of 4)

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Starring: Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Kieran Culkin, David Harbour, Amy Seimetz, Frankie Shaw, Matt Damon, Ray Liotta

Other Awards: None to date

Runtime: 115 minutes

Country: United States

Availability: released in theaters July 1 and streaming on HBO Max; for future availability, see JustWatch here.

See all Five Cent Cine reviews by 2 Film Critics

WNY film lovers are over the moon about the 15th Annual Buffalo International Film Festival. For years, film aficionados and fans calmored for a first rate film festival in Buffalo, and now they have it. For 15 years, organizers of the Buffalo International Film Festival have been building up momentum, as this city has rallied behind the film industry. A combination of steady acclaimed film productions and notoriety as a pro-film city has enabled Buffalo to emerge onto the international stage as a force to be reckoned with. The icing on the cake is a film festival that is now screening over 120 films from 24 countries, including some notable works hailing from Buffalo. Incredibly, this has all been orchestrated despite the pandemic. The 2021 festival will be held in person, and virtually online, allowing everyone to participate in some fashion.

The film festival brings numerous filmmakers from around the world to the city to celebrate their latest films.

‘It’s been a long, hard pandemic for all – and now it’s time to have some good times and (safe) fun together! Every film presented in a theater will have filmmakers in attendance, many from out-of-town,” touted Executive Director Anna Scime. “Every film in this lineup is amazing – in the theater and online – and we’re beyond grateful and honored to present these incredible works this year.  We want to show these filmmakers and our community the love that they deserve and for those from out of town, some good ol’ fashioned Buffalo hospitality, as we safely collect and celebrate together!”

Adding to the excitement, the in-person screenings at this year’s festival will be held at a number of highly coveted and unique theatrical locations such as the North Park Theatre, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Duende at Silo City, and The Tralf – as well as virtually via the Eventive digital cinema platform.

^ An opening night presentation of Catch The Fair One, the Tribeca Film Festival winning thriller filmed in Buffalo, with star Kali Reis and producer Kimberly Parker presenting the film. Film produced by Nomadland and The Rider.

 

Headlining features include Catch The Fair One, Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James, 100 Years From Mississippi, We Burn Like This, Rust Belt Driller, and Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez.

“We have amazing films and makers, as well as panels, offscreen events and more going on Oct 7-11 at venues throughout the City of Buffalo,” continued Scime. “We’ll be masking in venues and using best practices to keep everyone safe and healthy, but we’ll also be having a really great time together watching, thinking and talking film, dancing, and engaging with art in many forms.  We hope the public can come out and support these filmmakers, and the festival! I think that this is collectively something that we all need right now.”

“We look forward to welcoming new and old friends back to BIFF to celebrate our fifteenth anniversary and our official selections,” said Artistic Director John J. Fink. “Great storytellers have found innovative ways to stay creative and it has been very exciting to see how filmmakers have adapted to the challenges we’ve collectively faced.”

“We were very fortunate to have the support of Buffalo to carry us through a tough year during the pandemic,” noted board member Keith Poplawski. “Like so many other organizations, being presented with the challenges of 2020 forced us to adapt and we ultimately went virtual. In doing so, it created a new opportunity for us to explore in streaming capabilities and a way for us to present our local, domestic, and international filmmakers to a broader audience with more viewing options. This year, we are able to do both, online and in-person, giving our filmmakers and audience the most flexibility as we take the first steps forward to put covid behind us.

“Buffalo’s support is crucial to our survival. Every year, we challenge ourselves to align with the flourishing filmmaking and production community locally. This requires us to examine where we can best position ourselves to create more educational opportunities for internships and panels, provide experience with staff hiring and development, and expand our range of partners and programming. We also recognize and take our role in welcoming filmmakers to the city very seriously. Buffalo makes it easy on us to use hospitality to set us apart from other film festivals so we always want to make sure we can deliver one the city and region can be proud to call its own. I am very proud of our partners, staff, and sponsors in presenting this lineup for 2021.”

Tickets and passes are on sale now at WWW.BUFFALOFILM.ORG including the all-access Bison Pass ($45) and Triptych Virtual (3 virtual screenings for $20). Individual tickets to live screenings with filmmaker Q+As are $12 and virtual screenings are $9.

Tapestry Charter School’s expansion project has brought some shine to Great Arrow Avenue.  is planning a three-story addition to its facility at 65 Great Arrow Avenue. Besides the three-story 60,158 sq.ft. addition, the project included a new bus loop, 83 additional parking spaces, and a playground including a turf soccer field. Trautman Associates Architects Engineers designed the project.

The new building include classrooms, offices, a full-sized gymnasium, cafeteria, a STEAM laboratory and classrooms for the arts. The bus loop and new parking heled relieve the congested traffic along Great Arrow Drive. Tapestry and PS 64 Frederick Law Olmsted School use Great Arrow Drive for their buses, parking and primary access for traffic.

Construction cost was $11 million.

The future of professional cooking and baking could be via home kitchens. During the pandemic, a lot of people began to reevaluate their careers, to figure out ways to work from home or remote offices.

One such person that is successfully navigating the waters of transitioning from the traditional workplace (as an elementary teacher) to the home kitchen is Kate Knowles, who recently opened Manchester Place Baking Co. Her craft? Cookies! Yes, Kate has shifted from 15 years as a teacher, to making gourmet (1/4, or more) cookies at home. 

Rainbow confetti cookie

What started off as a hobby – “something she did to relax” – has now turned into a full time, full-fledged professional baking operation, registered with NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets.

You’re a self-described “cookier”? Is that a word?

Yes. I’m not sure if it’s a real word… in the cooking community it is [laughing].

Who taught you how to bake?

I have been doing it as long as can remember. On Sundays I would always want to bake something. My Grandma was a big baker – it’s always been there.

Was transitioning careers a scary step?

I was thinking about this for about a year. Yes, it’s scary, but also exhilarating. Oddly enough, I feel relaxed. I didn’t realize how stressed I was. It’s month two as a business. Every day gets a little bit better. I tend to ask myself, ‘Is this is what normal people feel like?’

My husband is an IT guy who still goes to work every day. That’s what I used to do to – teaching – going to work every day.

Is it difficult cooking at home?

I’ve learned alot about Cottage Food Laws – how to become registered as a home bakery, home processor… I did that. It may be different, but it’s a stepping stone and a great place to start.

Will you be looking for a commissary kitchen?

Down the road, possibly. I didn’t want to jump into something that I couldn’t afford. I want to figure out my market.

Cinnamon toast crunch cookie

What about competition in the market?

I’m new to this. I developed samples for people. I’m talking to a lot of people and am doing research. I’ve been contacting businesses as well. I got a large order from a church a couple of weeks ago, which was nice.

I’m new to Buffalo, so I’m trying to learn about the community. I grew up south of here and then went to Dallas for college. I’ve been gone for almost 20 years and just moved back. I don’t know that many people yet in Buffalo. My Dallas friends keep asking me to ship to Dallas. Technically, I can ship within NYS at this point.

*People can order and sign up for the Cookie Club on the website, under the ‘Contact Us.’

How many different types of cookies are you baking right now?

7 flavors (see cookie menu).

What’s the best seller?

Probably the lemon delight.

Cinnamon roll cookie

What’s your favorite cookie?

The cinnamon roll – it’s rolled like a cinnamon roll and baked like a cookie.

Are you selling to stores or restaurants?

Not at the moment.

What about farmers’ markets or pop-ups?

I’m working with Put A Plant On It on Elmwood Avenue – we’re talking about doing a pop-up in the near future. I would consider doing other pop-ups.

What would you like to have that you don’t?

I would love to have a 20-quart mixer. If I had a giant mixer I could make a lot more cookies.

Where do you want to be next year?

I would love to be consistently booked. To have a fairly full schedule, especially around the holidays. I’ve done pretty well so far… I’ve broken even, which I think is pretty good. It would be nice to make some money.

In five years?

We live in the Elmwood Village. I would like to have a retail/baking location nearby where I could walk to work. Sometimes we pass by an empty storefront and I think… ‘great location!’

In the meantime, I’m finding a community of people that love my cookies. As a baker, when I see something that I want to eat, I just make it. Not everyone is like that, which is a good thing. So they turn to me for delicious cookies!

‘The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie’

Will you ever expand the line to include baked items other than cookies?

It’s a possibility. That’s why I called myself a baking company, not a cookie company.

Do you do special orders?

Ask. And we can figure it out.

Do you bake seasonal cookies?

I just added the pumpkin one – the apple cider cookie is still in development.

Who’s your taste tester?

My parents… and two neighbors across the street. And my husband of course. Except for any cookies with fruit in it [laughing].

Red velvet cookie

What will the holidays bring?

I have a dozen ideas for cookies. It’s all about pairing down; to find something sustainable. Some sort of chocolate-chocolate cookie? The there’s the red velvet.

Are you baking every day?

Pretty much every day.

Are you baking any dietary restriction cookies?

No, not yet… but I do plan to doing that at some point. Gluten free is slightly harder than baking for vegans.

Currently, I have a website where people can order online. There is a contact us page – tell me what you want and I’ll take care of it from there. I’m willing to work with customers.

Lemon delight

*On a personal note, I got to try four different cookies from Manchester Place Baking Co. Not only were they delicious, they were some of the largest cookies that I have ever come across – they were more like the size of cupcakes than cookies. Four cookies were in the box that I picked up, and I was able to share with a few friends. In fact, upon opening the box, I reached for a knife to cut them up – they were that big, while being moist and flavorful. My favorite was the lemon delight, which surprised me. The handsome packaging makes for a great gift.

Get connected: www.manchesterplacebakingco.com

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It was back in 2018 that Canadian investor and developer Harry Stinson purchased the Adam’s Mark hotel in Downtown Buffalo, close to Canalside. Since that time, Stinson has contemplated a number of strategic redevelopment options (including building a condo tower), while coordinating a plan of attack for the monstrous building. 

Yesterday, I got a chance to meet up with Stinson at the Buffalo Grand Hotel, to discuss some of the renovations that are currently underway. I must say that I was happily surprised at the amount of work that has been completed, including the unveiling of a small ancillary banquet room that he spun off from the main hotel dining room. He did this by installing a brick wall (to create a dedicated space), laying down wood floors, adding comfortable banquette and booth seating, painting, relighting… the works. The new space, complete with piano, is perfect for seating around 100 people for wedding spinoff parties, Stinson told me.

This room on the first floor, off the hotel dining room, was dated, dingy, and dark maroon – in fact, maroon was sadly the color of choice for many venue rooms at the Adam’s Mark hotel.

At the moment, Stinson is busy updating all of the impractical outdated venues in the building. Take, for example, the former Erie Ballroom on the first floor. By removing a giant wall, the ballroom has gone from 500-person capacity to being able to accommodate 800 guests (now with natural light). It’s a welcome improvement, but it’s only a small part of the transformation that is underway in the building.

A significant wall that stretched the length of the room has been removed, to increase capacity by 300 guests. New carpeting, and no more maroon paint. Notice the natural light, thanks to the absence of the wall?

Stinson is concentrating on the hotel’s substantial event spaces because there is a need for them in Buffalo, he told me.

“Buffalo is a city that is full of small and medium venues… 200-300 people capacity covers most of them,” said Stinson. “Then, there is the Convention Center, but that is dated. The Buffalo Grand Hotel will become a destination for the bigger events, once I am finished making it functional. Altogether, we can fit 7000 people at a time, which is significant for this city. We can also accommodate smaller events, depending on what people are looking for. The most important thing right now is to update the venues, and rethink how everything works and flows together.”

The pool is being filled in, to make way for a meeting and conference room, with direct access to an outdoor courtyard with bar. Another pool will be built towards the back of the hotel.

While there are some exciting improvements underway downstairs, it’s upstairs that Stinson is especially excited about. It all starts with the pool area. The indoor pool is being filled in, to create a meeting and conference room that will have direct access to an outdoor sunlit courtyard and bar. Another pool will be built towards the back of the hotel.

“The pool was in the wrong place,” said Stinson. “It was built when there was a tennis club up here. The tennis club was 42,000 square feet – then it became a venue, which is now dated. The first thing we did was take down all the walls that we could. Moving forward it’s going to be a massive room for weddings, concerts, and conventions. Like everything else, we’re remodeling, updating, and livening it up. There will be a giant stainless steel bar, with eight bartending stations. We’re painting the brass chandeliers a dramatic red. We’re also exposing the massive columns that were added to support the arched roof  over the tennis courts – we’re coating the columns with Intumescent fireproof paint. There’s going to be a reception area in front, with the concert stage in back. Opposite the concert stage we’re putting in balconies with bottle booths. On either side of the stage will be two video walls, with ceiling mounted projectors for amazing visuals. It’s going to be like watching a concert at a drive-in movie theater. Once finished, there will be nothing like this in WNY.”

One… big… room = a reception area and seating for 4390 people

Talking to Sinson, it’s easy to tell that he’s having fun. He’s been doing this sort of thing for most of his life after all, so it comes naturally to him. He’s proud of his accomplishments, which he is happy to show off now that they are fully underway or reaching completion stage.

“It’s going to be big and dramatic,” Stinson told me. “Since I’ve been in Buffalo, nobody has taken me seriously, so I’m just going to do it, on my own nickel. I want it to be original. This place will be full of ‘selfie moments,’ with lots of cool features. I’ve been evaluating the market, to see what is most needed in Buffalo, and this is what I’ve come up with. It’s what the building best lends itself to. I think that people will really like it when it’s finished. At this point, there’s a lot more work to do… we’ve got 360 guest rooms booked this weekend (out of 486 rooms), and we’re starting to do walkthroughs on Tuesday with our clients, to show them them what we’re up to. We’ve done this while remaining open for business. We should be ready for a final showing in November.”

Stinson reimagines the previously dated look of the facility, with vibrant red chandeliers.

From soup to nuts – removing walls, exposing previously boxed-in columns, soundproofing, carpeting, painting – the Buffalo Grand Hotel is coming along nicely. Stinson told me that despite not being able to find enough people that want to work, he’s committed to getting the project done on schedule. That means that he’s in ‘hands-on’ mode, working with contractors to ensure that everything is up to his aesthetic and quality standards. And he’s patiently anticipating the day that he can unveil the results to the public.

Support structures were previously boxed inside wall units. Now they will be exposed, which will provide sweeping sightlines within the venue.

Not only will the hotel and conference center be ideal for weddings, it will also be a premier concert venue for national acts. Located at the back of the stage, off the kitchen, will be a hallway where performers will have direct access to the stage. The performers, VIP guests, stage and AV hands, promoters, etc., will be provided with a private facility (former ROAR Logistics offices), where they can relax, entertain, and even hang out on a private patio that overlooks the city. All of this is still under construction, but will be ready to go soon enough.

The stage will be inset into the wall, with video screens on either side… and no more maroon walls. Opposite the stage, balconies will be hung from the ceilings, with bottle booths.
‘Back of the house’ – a two-story former office will be converted into a staging area for performers, crew, and VIP guests, with a private patio overlooking the city for entertaining.

Stinson described the process of pulling this all together as a Rubik’s Cube. He’s figured out all of the logistics for hosting smoothly-orchestrated shows, while operating a hotel and conference center at the same time.

“I’ve got 7 acres to play with – it’s going to be a little village when I’m done,” said Stinson. “We’re updating the rooms bit by bit, putting in new hallway carpeting throughout, chewing away at the decor, getting the venues ready, and tackling everything that was outdated and falling apart. My philosophy at this point is, ‘Just do it, and show them afterwards.’”

Get connected: www.thebuffalogrand.com

The City of Buffalo has narrowed the number of proposals for redeveloping the Mohawk Ramp site from six to three.  According to a Selection Committee, the three proposals that best met the evaluation criteria were:

BFC Partners and CB Emmanuel Realty
Douglas Development
SAA EVI, McGuire Development and Passero Associates

Dropped from consideration were:

Gold Wynn and Colby Development
Savarino and 34 Group
Uniland Development

The 629-space parking ramp, which was built in 1959, occupies a 1.1-acre site along Mohawk Street between Ellicott and Washington Streets.

The Finalists:

BFC Partners and CB Emmanuel Realty

Components:

203 affordable units
23,113 sq.ft. of commercial space
Mix of restaurant, fitness center, flagship retail or co-working space
285 parking spots
Visual activation of Mohawk Street
GO bike long term parking facilities
Partnering with GO Buffalo Niagara/Go Bike Buffalo

Douglas Development

Components:

600 residential units total on multiple sites
200 new apartments and 300 new parking spaces above the existing parking garage with 10 percent dedicated to affordable housing
1,500 sq.ft. café along Mohawk Street
1,500 sq.ft. R&D Lab on the ground floor that will on-cover the future of mobility in Buffalo
1,500 sq.ft. floor retail along Washington Street
Over 800 parking spaces total on the site
Redevelopment and adaptive reuse of the Simon properties near the Mohawk Ramp site providing 400 new apartments with 10 percent dedicated to affordable housing and additional ground floor retail

SAA EVI, McGuire Development and Passero Associates

Components:

233 apartments; 168 will be income-restricted
Existing parking structure removed
268 new parking spaces on three levels
6,500 sq.ft. ground floor retail
Mohawk Commons Incubation Hub to focus on M/WBE start-ups
2,300 sq.ft. 13th floor restaurant
Mobility Alley along the northern property line create an east-west mobility spine to promote foot traffic through the site
Interior courtyard located at the center of the building

 

Proposal evaluation criteria includes:

A. Quality of Plan

Must incorporate transportation and justify use choices that reflect high demand for transit access to downtown and downtown living
Preference for proposal that incorporate housing, including affordable housing
Diversity and inclusion must be incorporated and must demonstrate a plan for meaningful participate from certified MWBE, workforce participation, or mentor protégé opportunities at all project levels (financing, management, design and construction

B. Experience and Qualifications

Experience in working with and partnering with communities, neighbors and business stakeholders
Neighborhood economic development & job creation
Diversity within the development team

C. Financial Considerations

Complete budget, sources and uses and a reasonable development budget
Financial feasibility based on reasonable development and operating proforma
Demonstrated financial capacity to complete the project

D. Competitive Preferences

Preference given to mixed-use developments that incorporate affordable housing
Proposals that envision creative and cost-effective solutions for structured parking transportation centers will be favorable
Submissions with strong community engagement plans and that meet or exceed MWBE goals will be more favorable
Submissions that consider an activation of the street level and increase urban vibrancy while facilitating pedestrian and bicycle friendly streetscape will be more favorable
Submissions that consider overall improvement to the public realm will be more favorable

I first got to know Nick Kotrides when he was the owner of Faherty’s (1989) and Toro (2001) on Elmwood. Nick had heard that I was a pretty good Foosball player and was looking to improve his game (at Faherty’s). We got to know each other pretty well during those table soccer lessons, and eventually became friends, which is why I’m excited to see Nick back on Elmwood, after being away for a number of years.

An assortment of natural flavored ready to drink cocktails

After wrapping up his Faherty’s and Toro chapters of his life, Nick ventured into the distillery business. Today he owns and operates Uncle Jumbo’s (Uncle Jumbo was Grover Cleveland’s nickname), a craft distillery that started making craft American Vodka in 2016 with locally sourced grain.

Nick readily admits that while the distillery has been gaining ground in the market, a missed opportunity was not creating a tasting room when he first opened. Now, he is rectifying the situation by building out a Tasting Room on Elmwood Avenue, at the corner of Elmwood and Hodge. Nick says that the reason that he chose this location is that familiarity that he has with this section of the street – it’s like coming home.

478 Elmwood Avenue – future location of the Tasting Room

“Being a former restaurant owner, I understand the importance of direct to consumer sales,” Nick told me, when we met up to discuss his Elmwood comeback. “Most of the gross revenue generated by distilleries comes from the tasting rooms. This will be a great way to introduce Uncle Jumbo’s to people who are not familiar with the products. We plan on doing all of our product launches from this location. It’s also important that people know that we are a local company – they see our products on store shelves, but might not be aware that we distill in a 5000 square foot building in Clarence. My plan is to serve all New York State products – not just Uncle Jumbo’s cocktails, but also spirits from other NY distilleries. Due to the relatively small space, we will rotate the distilleries. At the Tasting Room, we will have bottles of wine, and a couple of draught beer taps. It’s going to be a nice and cozy, rustic neighborhood spot, where we can focus on brand awareness.”

Customers at the Elmwood Tasting Room will find an assortment of products to consider, from Uncle Jumbo’s canned “ready-to-drink cocktails” to the distillery’s Uncle Jumbini – jarred vodka filled with queen size pimento-stuffed olives and pepperoncini (perfect for dirty martinis and Bloody Marys).

Nick is also excited to launch his “long awaited” bourbon (Niagara Frontier Bourbon Whiskey), as well as the innovative “grip it and rip it” freezable and resealable Bombsicle Coolers. 

Prototype packaging for the soon-to-be-released Bombsicle vodka coolers (8% ALC. by VOL.)
The Tasting Room will have full sliding accordion windows on two sides, one of which will overlook a patio

“These new Bombsicle Coolers are the first of its kind in the world,” Nick told me, as he demonstrated the packaging prototype. “We just got government approval. You can drink it right out of the flexible packaging, or turn it into an ice pop.”

Needless to say, Nick has got a lot of things distilling these days. His products can now be found in five different states, as well as Canada. And his hope is to have the Elmwood Tasting Room open by November. At that time, this little corner will become, according to Nick, a great neighborhood hangout, unlike anything else on the street.

“I missed the city,” he told me. “It’s nice to be back.”

Get connected: www.unclejumbosdistillery.com