By WBFO News
Buffalo, NY – The long-running, ever-changing Bass Pro development project for downtown Buffalo is changing yet again.
Congressman Brian Higgins says the sporting goods company is now considering building its store at the Memorial Auditorium site. Under the new proposal, the Aud would be demolished to make way for construction of the store. The original 2004 plan called for the Aud to be renovated into a large Bass Pro outlet.
Last spring's announcement of plans to locate the store along the rebuilding Central Wharf was strongly opposed by preservationists. They said it violated the 2004 master plan that restricts the wharf site for historic purposes and public access.
"We are calling on the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation to reaffirm and return to the history-based build-out of the Commercial Slip and Historic Street Plan consistent with the 2004 Master Plan," Higgins and Mayor Byron Brown said in a written statement.
"It is imperative that staff be directed to deliver a date specific plan for the completion and source of funding for each project element and enter into all necessary contracts to build-out the Erie Canal Harbor Project."