Consider the recent closing of Ted's West Chippewa Street location as yet another example of how returning downtown Buffalo's development swagger and mojo has become a major talking point among city leaders.
"Is there a will and a passion to bring downtown back? Absolutely," said Steven Carmina, Buffalo Place Inc. chairman and founder of Carmina Wood Design, a leading architecture and engineering firm.
Reviving downtown and the central business district is not a new issue. In many ways, shapes and forms it has been central discussion point since the early 1970s.
There have been countless studies including an updated version of the "Queen City Hub" development blueprint that's currently underway in a joint effort by Buffalo Place and the University at Buffalo's School of Architecture and Planning.
But, with a loss of an estimated 25,000 daily downtown office workers in the post-Covid world, coupled with some high profile restaurant closings and a rise in empty storefronts and buildings, the short-term and long-term future of the central business district has emerged as one of Buffalo's top economic development issues.
Ted's was not alone. Fellow legacy restaurants like Bocce Club Pizza and Mighty Taco also closed locations in recent years.
And, the reality is - there is no immediate short term or long term answer. It will take a series of incremental steps.
"Yes, we need more people living downtown," Carmina said.
Downtown, according to U.S. Census Bureau, has approximately 3,000 people living in area from Goodell Street to the north and the Buffalo River to the south with the Elm-Oak Arterial to the east and Elmwood Avenue to the west.
In 2010, there were 1,700 people living in the central business district, according to census data.
But, in 2019 - just before Covid struck - downtown had just an 9% office vacancy rate while this year it is pushing 20%, according CBRE Upstate New York data.
Carmina says a concerted effort is needed to help bring downtown Buffalo back. Incoming Mayor-elect Sean Ryan said it was at the top of his economic development game plan.
It's not all is lost when it comes to the central business district.
Ingram Micro is bringing 1,300 workers from Amherst to the former Highmark building on W. Genesee Street just behind Buffalo City Hall.
Former Buffalo Sabres owner B. Thomas Golisano bought the vacant, Buffalo News building on Washington Street and will be bringing his executive-level training center and think tank to the complex - that move has the potential to bring several hundred people into downtown.
The largely vacant Dun Building on Pearl Street is being renovated into market rate apartments.
And, there is an effort to, perhaps, bring a soccer complex into downtown.
Developer Rocco Termini is planning a series of Ellicott Street special events, beginning this spring.
The Mohawk Place - a popular live music venue - has re-opened.
"The pieces are there," Carmina said.