Buffalo News | There’s light at the end of the tunnel for DL&W
From the Editorial Board: 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.
The News' Mark Sommer reports that come January, the Niagara Frontier Transit Authority plans to open part of the first floor as a new Metro Rail station, with two four-car platforms for use by the public. That completion will be followed by a stair tower at South Park Avenue and Illinois Street in May 2025, with a skybridge to KeyBank Center at South Park Avenue and Main Street coming in 2026. These are all approximate dates for the largely state funded work.
But it's happening. The track construction has been going on for more than two years and is completed. Platform and other work on the first floor — including public art by Joan Linder — is underway and promises a Metro station with architectural grandeur easily surpassing the other subway stops. It continues a commitment to public art that began when the line was put in years ago.
The second floor will take longer, with good reason. For years before any of the station planning, developers have toured this part of the complex with fascination — and hesitation. It offers a long list of possibilities with an equally formidable series of obstacles that must be overcome. While the ground floor has served as a storage and maintenance facility for light rail rapid transit cars, the second floor has been vacant and unused for more than 60 years.
But developer Sam Savarino, through his company Savarino DL&W Development LLC, saw the possibilities and is continuing with his plans, first made in 2021 with the help of Projects for Public Spaces and now augmented with the participation of Josh Holtzman, part owner of Buffalo Iron Works. Savarino envisages a multi-use space that would include a concert venue and possibly a public market.
While the planned stair tower, as well as elevators and stairs from the first floor will provide access, fire egress is also a factor and there are architectural elements that must be retained if the project is to receive historic tax credits. It will be tricky, but when done, this waterfront complex will have 75,000 square feet of indoor space and 55,000 square feet of outdoor space devoted to public amenities.
Savarino, the only developer to respond to the NFTA's request for proposals, has hung in there for years now. He knows the challenges.
It is every Buffalonian's right to complain about the delays that bedevil big projects like this. With that right should come appreciation for those brave souls who take them on and applause when they approach completion.
