DL&W strengthens Buffalo as a destination.

An anchor for a city built on neighborliness.

“Convenient transit access is a key consideration for meeting planners and tour operators. By anchoring the Metro Rail, the DL&W project strengthens Buffalo’s appeal as an accessible, connected destination for conferences and group travel,” says Patrick Kaler, president and CEO of Visit Buffalo.

Buffalo’s tourism economy has grown exponentially over the last two decades. In 2024, Erie County recorded a record-setting $2.7 billion in visitor spending, a 7.2 percent increase from the previous year. In 2023, it was reported that the county’s tourism industry supported nearly 29,000 jobs, generating roughly $600 in annual tax savings per privately owned household. While 2025 has presented some challenges for Canadian tourism, these figures speak to a region more confident than ever in its offerings.

That confidence is reflected in the recent rebranding of Visit Buffalo, formerly known as Visit Buffalo Niagara. The organization’s rebranding effort included the launch of a new campaign in September called “That’s Buffalo for You.” Combined, these efforts illustrate a city whose story can stand on its own. By highlighting Buffalo’s beloved contradictions (our “polished grit,” “refreshingly spicy” food culture, and “historically new” architecture), the campaign invites visitors to experience the city for its personality as much as its sites.

As Buffalo welcomes a growing number of leisure travelers and convention guests, its built environment must evolve alongside that momentum. It needs more places that keep visitors here longer while inviting them to explore our city year-round.

That is where Savarino DL&W Development’s terminal project comes in.

Infrastructure that cultivates community.

The DL&W terminal’s redevelopment is a strategic long-term investment in civic infrastructure designed to give visitors and residents reasons to gather and explore in any weather. Savarino’s plans for the second floor include a full calendar of activations 359 days a year, from seasonal pop-ups and exhibitions to workshops, festivals, and community programs. Visitors will find a public market, restaurants, and indoor-outdoor gathering spaces that reflect Buffalo’s tradition of neighborliness and warm hospitality. The terminal’s flexible indoor-outdoor performance venue will host concerts and events that extend the waterfront’s entertainment season well beyond the summer months. An exciting, soon-to-be-announced interactive cultural tenant at the southwest corner of the building ‘s second floor will add another layer of year-round vibrancy.

Reinforcing Buffalo’s identity.

When Patrick Kaler, president and CEO of Visit Buffalo, unveiled the organization’s new brand, he described it as an invitation to experience Buffalo’s transformation through its architecture, art, food, and people. The DL&W redevelopment embodies that invitation. Now that Savarino DL&W Development has successfully petitioned to have the terminal added to the National Register of Historic Places, its efforts will restore the century-old architectural landmark to a place where visitors and locals can interact daily through food, culture, the waterfront, and one another.

“The DL&W’s redevelopment is a transformative step in making Buffalo an even more vibrant, year-round destination,” said Patrick Kaler, President and CEO of Visit Buffalo. “It supports our vision of a walkable city that welcomes conference attendees, group tours, and leisure travelers to experience everything Buffalo has to offer in every season.”

The terminal project also complements Visit Buffalo’s goal of attracting higher-value visitors (those who stay longer, spend more, and return). At full buildout, it will offer more than 75,000 square feet of indoor public space and 55,000 square feet of outdoor deck space for programming and community use. It will provide a distinctly Buffalo experience that merges history, architecture, and civic life, and it’s all accessible to visitors via the NFTA Metro Rail, the Shoreline Trail, and more.

See the latest plans for Savarino DL&W’s second-floor layout here.

Boosting conventions and group travel.

Buffalo’s convention and group-tour market is steadily growing. In 2023, 20 of the 30 national event planners who visited the city chose Buffalo, and 22 large-scale conventions are already booked for 2025 and 2026, generating an expected $30 million in economic impact.

Visit Buffalo has also launched a Certified Tourism Ambassador program that trains community members to serve as local ambassadors. These experts will help visitors navigate Buffalo’s neighborhoods, attractions, and transit connections. The DL&W project will strengthen that effort by creating a new civic space where tour groups can start or end their Buffalo experiences.

DL&W’s activation makes a formerly dormant space into a tool that strengthens our collective tourism efforts. With its direct rail access, the terminal plays a valuable role as a complement to the Buffalo Convention Center, helping planners create experiences that extend beyond meeting rooms. Visitors attending a conference there will have even more reason to explore, as the Metro Rail’s Lafayette Station is just five minutes away on foot, making access to the DL&W both easy and free.

“First impressions matter, and projects like the DL&W help us tell Buffalo’s story the moment visitors arrive,” Kaler notes. “It creates a welcoming gateway that reflects who we are as a city: authentic, creative, and full of energy.”

Transit-oriented tourism makes a difference.

As the southern anchor of Buffalo’s Metro Rail, the redeveloped DL&W will be one of the city’s most visible examples of transit-oriented development (TOD). Overarchingly, TOD’s vision is to connect people to jobs, schools, and cultural opportunities, promote equity, and reduce reliance on cars. The DL&W project does many of these things through its model, which clusters a range of cultural and experiential offerings with mixed-use and walkable destinations around transit hubs while showcasing a historic structure that is part of Buffalo’s architectural heritage.

For visitors, it means accessibility. Arriving travelers can reach the DL&W by Metro Rail from downtown hotels, the theater district, the bus station, the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, the University at Buffalo South Campus, and more than six miles of Buffalo’s Main Street. From there, the terminal’s proximity to KeyBank Center, the Cobblestone District, Canalside, and the Seneca Buffalo Casino creates an interconnected destination for entertainment, dining, and waterfront exploration without a car.

“Convenient transit access is a key consideration for meeting planners and tour operators. By anchoring the Metro Rail, the DL&W project strengthens Buffalo’s appeal as an accessible, connected destination for conferences and group travel,” Kaler says.

Savarino’s DL&W project represents the next chapter in Buffalo’s story by providing a permanent, year-round civic hub for residents and visitors. We can’t wait.

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