Electric Avenue bar: homage to Ellicott's electric past and present Day and night, views from Flint & Kent warehouse lofts would be spectacular. Ground floor parking is already built in. The Holling press building should house ... the Holling Press and its 30 plus union jobs. This group of buildings at Broadway and Ellicott was subject of Charles Burchfield painting. They would be demolished as part of new convention center. The nucleus of a good neighborhood already exists: movie theaters The nucleus of a good neighborhood already exists: soulfull architecture The nucleus of a good neighborhood already exists: strong, personality-driven bars

Take a good look at the buildings illustrated here. With the exception of the Angelika Theater (the old Market Arcade Cinema) and the flower shops on Ellicott St. North of Chippewa, they would all have to be demolished if a new convention center gets built on the so-called Mohawk ramp site. That would be a shame, for the area between Main Street on the west, Oak Street on the east, Tupper on the north, and Broadway on the south contains a concentration of small commercial lofts and the 19th century apartment/retail buildings that could be the core of an exciting loft district the likes of which are transforming downtowns across the nation. Eccentricity + Electricity = Opportunity An important thing to know is that the area was once the core of two local industries, printing and electrical service, and two types of retail/wholesome trade, furniture and flowers. Almost incredibly, despite the best efforts of the urban renewal demolition machine, many of these businesses survive to give the area its flavor and historical continuity. Holling Press, Farthing Press, and the Landes Printing are still around, as are printing services companies like Printing Prep and Alling & Cory. Scherer Furniture on Genesee St. is the last of the furniture dealers, while the flower business is well represented on Genesee and Ellicott. The electrical industry is perhaps the most interesting because Buffalo (with power from Niagara Falls) was an early national leader in harnessing and distributing AC power. For some reason, electrical tinkerers came to be concentrated on Ellicott Street. Wooley Electric anchored the southern end of the street in an Italianate complex that was lost due to the construction of Pilot Field. Still a vital presence are Ferguson and Wehle Electric and, in a glowing terra cotta tower that was inspired by the Electric Tower at the Pan American Exposition, Niagara Mohawk. There is even a bar on the Ellicott Street at Mohawk called Electric Avenue. Many of these businesses would be lost to downtown if the convention center were to be built here, but they would coexist nicely with residential conversions around them. Across the street from Holling Press on Washington Street, for example, is the old Flint & Kent warehouse, 7 stories tall, with each floor 30 feet wide by 90 feet deep . That would be enough for one large loft per floor (2700 sq.ft. minus circulation), or two substantial ones (1350 sq.ft.) Clockwise, the views from a loft in this building would be the pedimented crown of Holling Press, the Art Deco Rand Building, the Liberty Building, City Hall, the Genesee Building (the Hyatt), Buffalo Savings Bank (now M&T Center), and Niagara Mohawk. The last five are floodlit at night. The key to the conversion of this area is that the buildings are relatively small, while the floor areas of each unit could be rather large. This would make it relatively cheap for small owners to get in on the action, just as three small buildings on Franklin Street north of Chippewa have recently been converted to apartments without much notice of fanfare. Several small projects coming on line at different times would parallel the absorption rate of such units much more closely than one or two big, complicated projects (like the ill-fated City Centre complex). The new residential lofts would help bring activity to the streets in the evening and weekends, bolstering existing businesses and creating opportunities for new ones. This is the only area in Buffalo where a critical mass of building supply and walkable proximity to regional amenities exists. The Central Library is down the block, a multi-screen art cinema is opening up, colorful bars and flower shops abound, and tough, eccentric, history-besotted little buildings look out upon each other and the electricity of downtown.