Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A shift back to the office for employers is underway in Downtown Buffalo, and one local organization is hopeful that can energize the revitalization in that part of the city.
Delaware North announced last week the company will have employees work at its Delaware Avenue headquarters on a Monday through Thursday schedule effective May 4. They join M&T Bank as another local company to shift to a four-day in-office work schedule for employees downtown.
Steve Carmina, chair of Buffalo Place believes this shift in workers returning to the office will make a difference.
"When you consider where we were as a city pre-COVID and the vibe that was in the city at that time, the amount of young people that were working downtown, looking for someplace after work to hang out with their friends and those other kinds of activities that were available then, we're excited they're finally bringing people back," said Carmina in an interview with WBEN. "And we're hoping that this is a shot of the arm, especially going into the summer season when all of the activities in the city will be picking up and a lot of new activities will be scheduled and happening."
With a couple of larger Buffalo companies bringing workers back to the office four days a week, Carmina is hopeful that other companies in the city will soon follow suit.
"Keep in mind too, we have now some new neighbors in the downtown Central Business District or on the edge. You have Highmark, which is moving into Seneca One. You've got Ingram Micro that is moving into the former Highmark space. You're going to have an influx of new people and new souls in the city that are really going to be experimenting, and looking for a place to go that haven't been right in the heart of it before," Carmina noted. "I think what you're going to find is that more folks will be looking down, investigating the places to be, and hopefully that means an uptick to all the businesses in the city."
There are other ways Carmina feels the city can attract more people to Downtown Buffalo to not only work, but also live and play. An increase in activities is the first aspect he's looking at.
"You're going to see many new activities happening in the city. We have our Thursday at Main concert series that will go on again this summer. We're going to try to create a little bit of a couple better opportunities, bigger acts that will come into the city, much more like they were back in the Thursday in the Square days. But we're also looking at some pickleball leagues, street soccer leagues, bocce leagues," Carmina said. "We're researching and trying to put together a location to put a small skateboard park in."
While more activities are part of the equation, it's also a willingness of the people wanting to take part and be downtown.
"The employees need to want to play a part in a role in after work activities, and they need to visit the restaurants and spend a few dollars. We're not saying every night in the week, but if you look at the thousands of employees that are in the city right now, if we give them all something to do during the course of the week, it's going to help," Carmina noted. "We already have a very healthy Theatre District, which is breaking all kinds of records for attendance, that is also lending to the city. But we need to bring those people in early and give them something to do before the show, and we need to capture them after the show to visit some of the places in the city. And a lot of that is security, lighting, the vibe that we need to bring back. I think that will help us a lot."
What's another way Carmina feels Downtown Buffalo can thrive and attract more people to that part of the city? He points to bringing back vehicular traffic to Main Street from Mohawk all the way down to Canalside.
"That should be completed in, I think, the fall of '27. That is going to be huge for us to get cars traveling back up-and-down Main Street," Carmina said. "But again, I think the businesses having to be here, creating more residential, creating better opportunities and situations for developers to be able to find the right funding to fund market rate housing in the city, which is so badly needed. That will also help us there."
Carmina is also encouraging people to research some of their options downtown and what may interest them while they're there.
"There are 86 restaurants open during the week in the in the Central Business District for lunch. I think people fail to recognize there are that many places that you can go," he said. "I would encourage people to get online, go to the Buffalo Place website, we list all those restaurants and go try them out. If you haven't been there before, go and enjoy some downtown excitement."
Related
