By JAMES FINK
jfink@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1611

The owner of HSBC Center is proposing construction of a 10-story tower adjacent to the city's tallest office building.

The plan, which is in its earliest stage, would see Seneca One Realty LLC build a 600,000-square-foot tower as part of a multipronged effort to keep anchor tenant HSBC Bank USA in the 38-story HSBC Center.

The new tower would house a variety of HSBC operations - many of which are operating in the suburbs and elsewhere in Upstate New York - and help create a banking campus.

The building is proposed for the northwest corner of HSBC Center plaza near Pearl Street.

The campus would increase HSBC's presence in the region. The bank has 6,000 local workers, including 4,000 in the central business district.

The plan remains conceptual, however. It hinges on HSBC's decision to not only remain as anchor tenant but to consolidate and bring new operations to downtown Buffalo.

Bank officials declined to comment on the proposal. Sources familiar with it would only speak on the project if they were not identified, due to confidentiality agreements.

The sources said representatives from Seneca One Realty have been meeting with Buffalo, Erie County and state officials. Mayor Byron Brown was briefed on the proposal and a meeting will be scheduled with Sen. Charles Schumer. Officials of Empire State Development Corp. also were briefed.

The proposal is considered central to Seneca One keeping HSBC Bank as anchor tenant in the nearly 1 million-square-foot office tower. The bank retained real estate behemoth Jones Lang LaSalle to assist with its Buffalo office needs. Several options are being considered, including remaining in HSBC Center, moving operations to a suburban site or leaving the area.

Jones Lang LaSalle dubbed the HSBC site search Project Pine. The search began late last year.

"As part of standard business practice, HSBC has initiated an RFP process to review how its future real estate requirements in Buffalo will best be met," said HSBC Vice President of Public Affairs Neil Brazil in a prepared statement. "The company is currently looking at a range of options, one of which is to maintain the status quo. A final decision is not expected for some months."

Seneca One officials declined to comment, citing confidentially agreements they signed with HSBC Bank.

The bank has anchored HSBC Center since the building opened in 1971, occupying 653,000 square feet. An estimated 2,700 people work in the building.

The bank's lease expires in October 2013.

That's two months before another major tenant in the tower, Phillips Lytle LLP, sees its lease expire. The law firm started a site search last year and expects to make a decision by late summer.

The concept of a banking campus for HSBC Bank is being warmly received by local leaders, who say keeping the downtown headquarters is a top priority.

"Keeping and expanding a major anchor is a beneficiary in and among itself," said Andrew Rudnick, Buffalo Niagara Partnership president and CEO.

If the Seneca One proposal is accepted by HSBC Bank, it would cement its presence downtown - something that goes back for more than a century.

"It certainly reinforces the urban core," Rudnick said.

"When an international company makes a major investment like that in this city, it has marquee value. It sells itself."