Uniland Development’s Delaware North Building, named after its primary tenant Delaware North, represents the largest and most prominent private development in the recent renaissance of Buffalo. The project was driven by an RFP issued by the hospitality company Delaware North for their new global headquarters. Coming in at $110 million and 330,000 gross square feet, this project is an award winning mixed-use development housing Delaware North’s 110,000 square foot global headquarters, a 116 room, 4-star Westin hotel, 83,000 square feet of additional Class A office space, 10,000 square feet of retail, and 5,400 square feet of high-class restaurant space. Paired with the main building is a structured parking garage with space for 600 vehicles.
For nearly two decades, Buffalo saw stagnant growth and population decline as people moved to the suburbs, and away to other major metropolitan hubs around the country. In recent years, however, Buffalo has found a new launchpad for growth by turning back to its roots. Cultural powerhouses just outside of Downtown, like Allentown and the Elmwood Village, have seen a boom in residency and vibrancy as Western New Yorkers have followed the nationwide trend of moving back to the City. This momentum has now leached into the Downtown corridor, with a newly redone Main Street bringing back storefront retail. Delaware North itself embodies this notion of Buffalo roots. As their namesake implies, the company was founded at the corner of Delaware and North street in Buffalo in 1915. Over the course of the next 100 years, Delaware North grew into a global hospitality business, incorporating lodging, sporting, airport, gaming, and entertainment industries along the way.
With the advent of their 100th year in business quickly approaching, Delaware North required a new global headquarters that was of a caliber indicative of an international company, and could support the company now and into the future. Uniland’s proposal was built on the same vision as Delaware North’s to create a world class facility, and this proposal was ultimately chosen by Delaware North as the project in which to invest. The decision to stay rooted in Buffalo was made in competition with relocation to Boston, a city which Delaware North is also heavily invested. This fact alone speaks to the importance of this project in Buffalo’s turnaround, and how the city and region have regained a place of importance in national and international circles.
With Delaware North’s move into this building in 2016 marking the project’s completion, the project is both a seed and beacon for future development in the city. The Delaware North Building not only anchored a prominent economic driver to the city, but expanded and took a key downtown area to the next level in terms of amenities and retail offerings. In addition to keeping the second largest company in the city here, this building won the 2017 Award for Mixed-Use Development from ULI NY, the 2017 Golden Brick Award for Building of the Year from Buffalo Business First, the 2016 Award of Excellence from the Upstate NY Chapter of NAIOP, and Project of the Year from BOMA.