Buffalo Place backs downtown soccer stadium
A group of downtown developers, property owners and business leaders approved a resolution backing a downtown site at Washington and Scott streets if any public funds are to be used to build the stadium.
A group of downtown developers, property owners and business leaders gave their backing Wednesday to an effort to bring a professional soccer club to downtown Buffalo.
The board of Buffalo Place, the downtown business improvement district that runs along Main Street and adjacent streets from Canalside to the edge of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, approved a resolution backing a downtown site at Washington and Scott streets if any public funds are to be used to build the stadium.
“If we’re going to provide public incentives to it, do it downtown,” said Keith Belanger, Buffalo Place chairman.
A rendering of the proposed new downtown soccer stadium location.
Buffalo Pro Soccer, a group of investors and organizers led by Peter Marlette Jr., is trying to launch a new team in the United Soccer League that would play in Buffalo, starting in March 2026. It also wants to build a new 10,000-seat stadium for the team that could also be used for other amateur sports, youth sports, concerts and events.
The group is considering at least three potential sites for such a stadium, but only one of them is downtown – on the site of the two parking lots for the former HSBC Atrium and Buffalo News buildings at the corner of Washington and Scott streets, across from Canalside. The 15-acre site, owned by developer Douglas Jemal, stretches behind the Atrium along both Scott and Perry, almost back to Michigan Avenue, and would be leased to the team.
That’s the preferred location not only for the group but also for city officials, who encouraged them to look at it. Officials have not identified the other potential sites.
The downtown site is the more costly of the potential locations, with an estimated $30 million price tag for construction and as much as $45 million when including startup and operating costs, even with the use of modular construction to reduce both the cost and the timeframe for construction.
So the group is hoping to obtain $20 million in public financing from the state.
Buffalo Place chose to weigh in a representatives of downtown Buffalo. The nonprofit’s board includes developers Bill Paladino, Paul Ciminelli, Rocco Termini and Chris Jacobs, a former congressman, as well as Shea’s Performing Arts Center CEO and former Cong. Brian Higgins. It also includes representatives appointed by Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, Buffalo Mayor Christopher Scanlon, the Erie County Legislature and the Buffalo Common Council.
“I don’t know a lot about soccer, but if there’s going to be a public subsidy of substance, we should advocate for downtown,” said developer Chris Jacobs. “It’s a great location. What intrigues me also beyond the soccer is the size of the stadium. It would be ideal for concerts and other things that would be spilling off into downtown.”
And, he noted, it would have only limited concessions, “which means people will go out outside and do what they need.”
A rendering of the proposed new downtown soccer stadium location.
“It will be a great thing to add to the vibrancy of downtown,” Jacobs added. “This would be one more generator of activity. These people are going to stop and eat before. It’s good for small business.”
Moreover, said architect and Buffalo Place Vice President Steven Carmina, the soccer season runs at a different time than the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bandits, so it would draw people downtown in those months.
“It’s going to add more days to the calendar,” he said.
Marlette said the organization’s vote “underscores the widespread enthusiasm for this project and the potential impact it could have on downtown and our entire community.” He said that “significant progress is being made behind the scenes on all three potential site locations,” and he “hopes to have an announcement in the very near future.”
“We appreciate Buffalo Place’s endorsement of our vision to bring professional soccer to Buffalo,” he said. “As we continue through the process of evaluating potential stadium locations, we are excited to work with stakeholders across the region to determine the best path forward.”
Metro Rail work slowed
Meanwhile, Buffalo Place officials said the cold and snowy weather since the start of the year has slowed down work on the track bed and rail replacement effort on Main Street by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority and its contractors. Workers are trying to finish up “punch list items” in the 400 block, but “weren’t able to make progress,” said Debra Chernoff, Buffalo Place’s manager of planning.
Even so, work in the 400 block is still expected to be finished by April. And crews were able to complete some underground electrical work on catenary wires and track bed in the tunnel, Chernoff said. Construction of the Church Street Metro Rail stations are also going slowly, but are still expected to be completed by this summer. And design work on the Lafayette Metro Rail station, by architects at WSP, will be starting in March, Chernoff said.
Also, the last phase of construction for Cars Sharing Main Street went out for bid Feb. 12, with “multiple construction companies” apparently interested and proposals due back by March 12, she said. The project, which will run from Mohawk to Exchange streets, is the final phase of the effort to restore car traffic alongside the trains in order to bring back pedestrian and other activity for businesses along the street. The state has committed $54 million.