Earlier this week I got to see my friend Janet and her 6-month-old twins, Holden and Teddy. They are the cutest.

1) Downtowns: What’s Behind America’s Most Surprising Real Estate Boom
This article isn’t about Buffalo in particular but I liked the subject — young people wanting to live in downtown areas. It highlights a number of cities which have experienced resurgence in the past few decades, including Louisville, Birmingham, and Denver.

One of the main factors businesses consider when deciding on where to relocate or expand is the available pool of college-educated workers. And that has cities competing for college-educated young adults. [...]

And there’s one place this desired demographic, college-educated professionals between the ages of 25 and 34, tends to want to live: tight-knit urban neighborhoods that are close to work and have lots of entertainment and shopping options within an easy walk.

2) Bounce-Back Buildings
Buffalo’s “once-troubled buildings…faced dire circumstances but emerged under new ownership without taxpayer assistance.”

“I have faith that things are going to turn around in Buffalo. It’s unbelievable what’s going on in that town,” [Anthony Kissling] said. “The whole area’s going to improve. I have high hopes that Buffalo is going in the right direction, and I’m willing to take a shot.”

3) Cobblestone District Makes Bid to Become a Music Destination
Nice article about Iron Works, a new music venue opening soon.

[W]ith the recent explosion of activity along the waterfront – the hugely successful Inner Harbor summer concerts, the addition of the Outer Harbor as a summer concert destination, the new builds happening around First Niagara Center – the Cobblestone District surrounding the arena and adjacent to the Inner Harbor would seem an ideal location for a live music renaissance.

4) Recap: Canalside Food Fight #1
A series of food truck “food fights” scheduled at various times over the summer? Sounds like a winner to me!

5) What to do With a Waterfront Dinosaur 80 Feet High?

Back in the 1920s, nobody ever questioned what to do with grain elevators on the Buffalo waterfront. They stored grain.

But now the old Cargill Pool Grain Elevator adjacent to Gallagher Beach will be sold at public bid June 5, and auctioneer Cash Cunningham says that anything could lie in store for the historic outer harbor fixture.

Maybe some entrepreneurial type can turn what was last known as South End Marina into a hotel or restaurant – like in Akron, Ohio.

Or perhaps the 1925 structure is destined to remain a marina, like the one that former Fire Commissioner Fred D. Langdon and partner Bill Mackey ran for more than 30 years.

The worst-case scenario is that the parcel will continue to remain vacant.

1) Casting City in New Light
The first phase of a project to turn Buffalo’s grain elevators into narrative light shows has been approved! I wish it wasn’t going to take so long, but at least they’re moving forward. The grain elevators will look quite different from how they are today:

The old grain elevator across from Canalside’s Central Wharf will be the canvas for a permanent year-round static and kinetic light show that casts a kaleidoscope of colors and images of Buffalo.

[They are] expected to approve spending $5 million for the first phase that, in addition to the light show on the grain elevator, also includes lighting the Michigan and Ohio street bridges that cross the Buffalo River, two areas of General Mills and the underside of the Skyway. An opening is anticipated for the summer or fall of next year.

The second and much grander vision is to illuminate 14 grain elevators in all – 13 along the river, plus the Pool elevator in Lake Erie – as public art. The biggest attraction would be a spectacle with the potential to incorporate 3-D video projection, fire, smoke, sound, pyrotechnics and other special effects onto the old silo across from Canalside, aka the Connecting Terminal, at the edge of the outer harbor.

2) Luminous Shots of Grain Elevators Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before
This is another article, featured in Atlantic Cities, about Buffalo’s plan to illuminate the grain elevators.

Buffalo is ready to put its long-neglected grain elevators back to use, this time in service of tourism.

The Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation just rolled out a four-stage plan to illuminate the grain elevators along the city’s waterfront. It’s an attempt to attract more visitors and, perhaps more importantly, to put to rest the negative association grain elevators have with Buffalo’s economic decline.

3) Amherst Warming to Idea of Above-Ground Rail
Will Buffalo’s metro rail finally get an extension? I hope so!

[I]t’s not just the suburbs that would benefit from increased transit options, planners say. Downtown Buffalo’s rebirth is also playing a role.

With more development going on than has been the case in decades, there’s a new demand for suburbanites to get downtown, for jobs at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus or leisure on the waterfront. And there’s not enough parking to accommodate all of their cars.

4) Exploring a World of Flavor at the West Side Bazaar
I’m looking forward to eating here!

The international food court at the West Side Bazaar on Grant Street offers tastes from Ethiopia, Burma, Thailand and Peru.

Things are moving along with the home purchase! We made an offer earlier this week that was accepted by the seller. We received the contract to look over and sign last night. We’ve contacted a lawyer to represent us in the closing process. (This was recommended by the seller — we’re going through a corporate owner so we don’t have a realtor like we would for a typical home purchase.)

The property is a townhouse; a brand-new renovation that was made from an old warehouse. So while it’s new inside, the bones are much older (which I love — I think I’m abnormally excited that this place is full of exposed brick walls). More details to come on the property once we’re a little farther along in the process, but as of right now we’re definitely moving forward. Very exciting!

And now for the weekly links:

1) This Guy’s Girlfriend is Buffalo!
Do you love Buffalo so much that you’d tattoo a map of the city on your arm? This guy did. (Related: Mark Weber of Beautiful Buffalo interviewed the guy with the tattoo. Interesting read.)

2) High Hopes for a Saved Steeple
Paul and I saw this steeple when we visited Buffalo last month. We could tell the rest of the structure had been torn down so we were curious why this one section had been left behind. It’s pretty cool; I hope their plans work out.

The tower’s salvation comes from an unlikely angel — the demolition company that was hired to knock it over. While preparing to pull apart the fire-damaged church’s sanctuary and office-classroom wing, the company’s officers took a liking to the tower and the site.

“We ended up buying the property, and we left [the tower] up,” said Sam DeFranks, president of Apollo Dismantling Services of Niagara Falls. “Our goal is to redevelop the site and incorporate the tower.”

3) Highway Robbery: Buffalo’s Taxi Fares
Apparently it’s pretty expensive to take a taxi in Buffalo.

4) $150K Donation Gives iPads to St. Joe’s Students
Paul went to high school at St. Joe’s so this article stood out to me. Lucky freshmen!

5) Emptying HSBC Center Presents a Towering Problem
No word yet on what they’ll do with the 38-story HSBC Center when its two largest tenants move out in December.

1) Weinfeld, a Downtown Fixture, Succumbs to Crash Injuries
Paul and I met this man on our recent visit to Buffalo. We were standing outside an apartment we were waiting to view when he came by. I didn’t know anything about him before I read about his accident. Sad story.

2) New Life at Larkin for Newark Diner
The Larkin District is getting a new diner! It won’t open until 2014, though.

The Newark Diner, named for the New York city where it functioned as a family restaurant for decades, will take a stroll down the Thruway some time next year. Howard Zemsky’s Larkin Development Group is purchasing the diner, adding it to a growing lineup of restaurant options in the immediate Larkin neighborhood. [...]

The Sterling-brand diner arrived in Newark, N.Y., in pieces back in 1939, and it was constructed on site.

3) In Buffalo, Historians Like Not Only the Architecture, But Also the Attitude

If the opening days of the conference offer a lesson, the experts say, it’s that the passion Buffalo has for restoring its past holds the key to building its future.

And it’s no secret in the architecture world that that movement – among young activists, preservationists, policy makers and developers – has already begun here.

4) Buffalo, N.Y., Architectural Gems Get a Facelift