If all goes according to plan, the Buffalo Central Terminal’s main concourse could be open for public events by mid-2027 and the first phase of an $80 million residential-anchored project for a pair of adjoining buildings could follow shortly thereafter.
Those are among the updates Central Terminal Restoration Corporation’s Monica Pellegrino-Faux announced.
For now, crews from Buffalo Construction Consultants are working on the first phase of a $33 million project whose focus is restoring portions of the weather-worn, iconic East Side landmark. That includes repairs to intricate brick work around the building and roofing.
“We can't underestimate how much this place is loved and how that love has saved this place for the time we have today,” Pellegrino-Faux said.
Pellegrino-Faux said she expects the main building to be sufficiently repaired that its main concourse could begin hosting special events by mid-2027.
Around the same time, a development team led by Ben Upshaw’s CB Emmanuel Realty will begin the first steps in an $80 million project that will bring at least 100 apartments to the vacant Mail & Baggage and Postal Office buildings that neighbor the main 18-story central tower.
The building’s history and architecture were big draws, Upshaw said.
“Our approach has always been that when you have a project of this scale, you have to have different uses,” Upshaw said. “It can't all be residential, it can't all be commercial, but we have enough market research in hand that we believe that this can be a good mix of residential, commercial, meaning retail and potentially light industrial.”
Upshaw estimates it may take six to eight years to finish that project.
In the meantime, the flurry of development activity in and around the Central Terminal is paying off as other investors begin to look at the Broadway-Fillmore area. Acting Buffalo Mayor Chris Scanlon said it’s a psychological lift for nearby residents.
“For years, people have talked about the eyesore that has been the Central Terminal here in this neighborhood. Now you’re going to have a Central Terminal that serves as a catalyst for this community,” Scanlon said.
The intent is to have the entire Central Terminal campus renovated and fully developed within the next decade.
“It’s a huge turnaround, a 180 from people talking about the eyesore it’s been to what it will be in the next couple of years,” Scanlon said.
Work continues at the Central Terminal.
