Big plan for Buffalo's biggest building

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - The future of Buffalo's tallest building has been uncertain with the drastic changes that have happened with HSBC.

But the owners of HSBC Center are holding out hope that the best days are ahead for the 40-year-old building.

Seneca One Realty COO Steven Fitzmaurice said, "We have some events coming about later this year, which will cause our building to go from an occupancy of greater than 90 percent to approximately five-percent. We're not sitting here feeling sorry for ourselves; we think there's a tremendous opportunity."

Seneca One brought in Charlie Long and a panel of volunteers from the Urban Land Institute to study the building.

"Because we're volunteers, we tell it like it is," Long explained.

During the three-day process, the panel will tour the tower, meet with community leaders and interview stakeholders, finding future uses for the soon-to-be empty tower.

"Good ideas by themselves are useless. The difference between a good idea and a good idea that works is work," Long said. "So hopefully what we leave with the community is good ideas that they're willing to spend time and energy making work."

Even with the Canadian consulate leaving last year, a law firm and HSBC soon to follow, Fitzmaurice is hopeful the building's best is still to come.

"I would say the diversity we could bring into the building going forward would make it a lot more robust and possibly more valuable than it is right now and with a great future," he said.

The panel will offer suggestions to the tower's ownership on Thursday. They'll be the deciding factor of what gets done in the years to come, based on the amount of money they have to work with.