Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Buffalo Waterfront has seen a massive amount of development over the last several years, including the creation and expansion of Canalside for not only commercial and event space, but also for the hopes of building a neighborhood and get more people to live in that area.
Since the days after the old Memorial Auditorium, former home of the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres, was torn down in 2009, a number of projects have been built up in that general vicinity, including the Boardwalk, Union Block, Heritage Point, and recently the Explore & More Children's Museum.
However, there is one parcel of land in that Aud Block that has remained vacant since the Memorial Auditorium was torn down: the North Aud Block that sits just behind the Rinks at Canalside.
After several years of sitting vacant as nothing but dirt in a pit, there's potentially some promising news for the future of that parcel.
"Today, actually, we will have a request for proposals out for private development to the North Aud Block," said Steve Ranalli, President of Erie Canal Harbor Development on Wednesday during "A New Morning" on WBEN. "It's been a long time coming, but we're really excited to see what the developers are interested in bringing to that portion of the development."
Wednesday officially marks is the first request for proposals on the North Aud Block, according to Ranalli. He also says it's the state's last parcel of land in the Aud Block for development, while the remaining open lawn spaces underneath the Skyway are owned by the City of Buffalo.
As for what Ranalli is hoping to see develop in the North Aud Block, he says he envisions a mix of uses.
"We would like to see several buildings built on that site, bringing back the remaining portions of Lloyd Street and Commercial Street - those are the historic streets down there where we've actually built the bridges over the canals and they're just waiting to be extended through the North Aud Block," Ranalli said with Susan Rose and Brian Mazurowski. "But we're looking for an active ground floor, retail, certainly more restaurants down there. We're expecting some commercial office space, possibly a hotel, and then certainly apartments, residential units, all sitting atop a parking garage."
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You can listen to Ranalli's entire appearance during "A New Morning" in the player below: