The year ahead is shaping up as a big year for Buffalo Central Terminal, with an assist from the $61 million announced in June 2022 by Gov. Kathy Hochul to rehabilitate and restore the Broadway-Fillmore landmark.
Central Terminal Restoration Corp., the nonprofit owner, is working with an architectural and engineering team to better understand the structural condition of the building and plaza, including the underground garage, as it gets ready for future construction.
A stabilization plan to return people back in the building on a limited basis in 2025 is nearing completion, and the selection of a development team for the Central Terminal is expected to be named in the coming weeks, culminating a selection process that began in July 2022.
“A lot is happening now to build a new future for the Central Terminal,” said Monica Pellegrino Faix, the executive director.
The train station opened in 1929, about three miles from downtown and four months before the Depression. Passenger travel fell steadily after World War II, with the last Amtrak train leaving the station in 1979.
The property passed through private hands for nearly two decades and was stripped of most of its decorative interior features when the Central Terminal Restoration Corp. entered the picture with the dream of seeing the building reused and rail travel on a diminished basis returned.
One of the goals achieved in the past year was activating the grounds with a dozen events during the spring, summer and fall.
“It was palpable that the crowd wanted and welcomed a place on the East Side that feels like a home for events on this side of the city,” Faix said. “They were well attended and were very diverse in terms of race, ethnicity and age.
“This was our first year, and we’re incorporating a lot of lessons learned to make an even better season next year.”
Other projects are also in the works.
Both a cultural landscape report and historic structures report are…
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