Main Place Tower

The Main Place Tower is located at 350 Main Street, in Buffalo, NY. The skyscraper is the fourth-tallest building in the city, and home to many technology and communication firms. The tower is connected to the Main Place Mall, downtown's only shopping mall, with a gross leasable area of 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2).[1] In recent years, it has lost a great deal of its retail shops to suburban shopping centers.[2] The tower, built in 1969, rises 350 feet (107 meters).

Main Place Tower
Main Place Tower, in Buffalo, NY
General information
StatusComplete
TypeOffice
Location350 Main Street, Buffalo, NY, United States
Coordinates42.884423°N 78.875452°W / 42.884423; -78.875452
Completed1969
OwnerMain Liberty Group
Height
Roof106.68 m (350.0 ft)
Technical details
Floor count26
Floor area341,000 sq ft (31,679.9 m2)
Design and construction
ArchitectHarrison & Abramovitz

History

The current location of the Main Place Tower was originally Shelton Square, a city block of considerable traffic in the city. Shelton Square was the site of a notorious publicity stunt in 1955, when disc jockey Tom Clay climbed to the top of a billboard in the square and disrupted traffic by repeatedly playing "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets on a loudspeaker; the incident led to Clay's firing and arrest.[3]

Originally the headquarters for the Erie County Savings Bank, it became known as One Empire Tower when the Erie County Savings Bank became Empire of America, the building was then renamed "Main Place Tower" in the 1980s with the demise of Empire of America.[4] The Main place tower was constructed as part of an urban renewal project. The land site of the building was previously home to the Richardsonian Romanesque castle-like Erie County Savings Bank Building (1890-1968).[5] The Erie County Savings Bank was both the anchor tenant and financial backer for the Main Place tower construction and leased the first three floors upon its completion.[4]

As of 2020, the mall had only four tenants remaining, and no major national chains; two restaurants and a food court also operate. That year, the city announced plans to collaborate with Main Place's owner and close the mall to make room for more office and parking space, which is intended to alleviate the high occupancy rate of the tower.[6]

  • view from Niagara Square
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See also

References
  1. About Main Place Mall
  2. TripAdvisor. "Main Place Mall". Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  3. "Buffalo Broadcast Pioneers timeline". Archived from the original on March 2, 2005. Retrieved 2015-03-06.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link) and
  4. Quinlan, Michael (2006). Living where We Used to Work: (Exploring the Modern Office Tower Potential for High-Rise living). UMI Dissertation Services. p. 78.
  5. www.buffaloah.com. "Erie County Savings Bank, Demolished 1968". Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  6. Fink, James (February 20, 2020). "Main Place Mall may evolve into tech-centric office space". Buffalo Business First. American City Business Journals. Retrieved February 20, 2020.


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