Twinned with Historic Tax Credits Real Estate Leasing Business, Savarino DL&W Development LLC and The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) are creating what will be a critical component of Buffalo’s transforming waterfront by redeveloping the historic DL&W Train Terminal into a vibrant and inclusive public space and marketplace. This project spurs economic opportuning through new entertainment, interpretive, retail and restaurant concepts, including affordable kiosk spaces for diverse local vendors to incubate their businesses.

Almost time to say "All aboard!" at the old DL&W. Activation of the long-dormant Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Terminal train shed is finally becoming a reality. It will still be a few years before the entire complex comes into use, but given decades of dormancy, it's fair to commend this much progress. Much like the Olmsted Richardson complex or the Central Terminal, redevelopment of the DL&W is a monumental project. Though the magnificent brownstone terminal once connected to the train shed was demolished in 1979, the 1917 Abraham Bush-designed double-decker shed is distinctive in its own right, with its reinforced concrete columns, Flemish bond brick exterior and skylights. The design of the complex, patented by Bush in 1904, is yet another example – like the now-demolished Great Northern grain elevator – of early engineering innovations in Buffalo.

DL&W Terminal

Higgins expressed his support of historic status for DL&W in remarks on the House floor, saying in part, “Positioned along the Buffalo River at the foot of Main Street in Downtown Buffalo, the massive structure is undergoing a transformation including construction of a new metro rail station on the ground floor. Historic designation will make planned private sector development of the second floor eligible for federal and state Historic Tax Credits. I urge the National Park Service to support the submission of the DL&W Terminal, advancing a critical lynchpin to the revitalization of Buffalo’s downtown waterfront.”

It's going to get a little narrower to drive on South Park Avenue near the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Terminal at the foot of Main Street.

In preparation for an $87 million redevelopment of the two-story building into a new Metro Rail station and upper-level entertainment venue, the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority wants to build a glass-and-metal stair and elevator tower on the side of the structure facing South Park at Illinois Street, in front of the brick façade, balcony and railings.

Patrick Kaler, who heads Visit Buffalo Niagara, is enthusiastic about the possibility and hopes to see cruise ships in Buffalo by 2026. He is familiar with the industry as past executive director of Great Lakes USA, a multistate marketing organization that focuses on attracting cruise ship visitors from Germany and the United Kingdom.

"It's absolutely feasible," Kaler said.

Currently, Savarino is hoping that all concerned entities understand the historic importance of this train shed – a significant (and rare) early example of the use of reinforced concrete thanks to DL&W Railroad’s chief engineer, Lincoln Bush* (hence its name – The Bush Train Shed). The structure was designed to accommodate train and steamer passengers. This project has got Buffalo written all over it. It’s going to change the face of the waterfront, virtually overnight. It’s also going to be a world class attraction that will showcase this city in the light that it deserves.

A new downtown music and entertainment venue inside the DL&W Terminal is expected to have a spinoff impact on neighboring bars, restaurants and other Canalside or downtown destinations.

“A new attraction like that is good for everyone,” said Steve Ranalli, Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. president.

Developer Sam Savarino plans to turn the second floor of the DL&W Terminal into a waterfront music venue a stone’s throw from where Canalside Live ended its annual summer concert series in 2019.

Savarino plans to employ the site's 40,000-square-foot outdoor deck, which he said can likely accommodate 4,000 to 5,000 people, for the new venue expected to open in 2025. Plans also include live music events inside on the building’s second floor. Working with Project for Public Spaces – which created the "cheaper, lighter, quicker" concept used at Canalside – Savarino also envisions an 8,000- to 10,000-square-foot public market, artists’ studios and food stalls along with a moveable stage for concerts, festivals and special events.

"Our intent is to make a public space in the size and scale and characteristics of great and successful public places in other communities," Savarino said.

Through 30 years of talk about redeveloping the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Terminal at the foot of Main Street, planners have envisioned a bustling public space and transit hub on a resurrected Buffalo waterfront.

They forecast shops, bars, restaurants, meeting spaces and business incubators thriving in a historic trainshed that stands as an attraction in itself.

But nobody ever provided the key ingredient to make it happen: money.

Now the new state budget provides $30 million – sought by State Sen. Timothy M. Kennedy and others – for the project, enough to turn all the talk into the reality of a revived DL&W by 2025. It allows Samuel J. Savarino, CEO of Savarino Cos. and the project developer chosen by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, to pronounce that the recent influx of state and federal funds means the project will happen.

"It really is an investment in the building to get it in shape to accept occupancy," he said, listing a host of restorative projects to ready the structure for the business and programming to come.