Dennis Mullen has had enough. He won't be sitting on the sidelines any longer.

For weeks after Bass Pro Shops announced it was scrapping plans to anchor Buffalo's Canal Side development, he stayed quiet. Perhaps too quiet.

Mind you, the former chairman of Bird's Eye Foods, and current Empire State Development Corp. chairman and president, probably had a thought or two. Empire State Development is the parent organization of Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp., which is pushing ahead with the Canal Side project.

Sure, losing Bass Pro hurts, he said. But it is not a death knell.

"This project will not die," Mullen said during a recent interview with Business First. "It will continue to move forward. Put it this way: Are the Cleveland Cavaliers going to stop to exist just because LeBron James left them? I don't think so."

More than nine years of courtship ended when the retailer announced July 30 that it was saying "thanks, but no thanks" to Buffalo's handsome offer.

"I'll admit Bass Pro has brand equity and a marquee name," said the soft-spoken Mullen. "Losing a powerful anchor does create a challenge, but it is not an insurmountable challenge."

Bass Pro was a community lightning rod that made anything connected to Canal Side toxic, at least in some people's minds.

Its controversial status was a factor in the recent political tug-of-war concerning making the Webster block and whether it would be available to HSBC Bank USA as a possible downtown expansion site.

"The Canal Side plan is a firm economic development plan," said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. "We can't be playing games with all these decision-making processes."

People forget that Canal Side - with its network of retailing, restaurant, entertainment and public spaces - is designed to be transformative for downtown Buffalo and the entire region. It has more than 1.1 million square feet of space; Bass Pro constituted just one-tenth of the space, yet it commanded 99 percent of the headlines and attention.

After seeing 20 acres of the prime lower Main Street area just sitting there, Canal Side represents a future and, more important, a plan. Somehow that seems to have been lost on a lot of people.

They bemoan that nothing is happening on the waterfront and criticize Canal Side but don't have a viable alternative for bringing in a critical mass of people without draining limited public-sector dollars.

"There are a lot of people who only look at this from 40,000 feet," Mullen said. "It's not unique to Buffalo. I've seen it happen with projects in New York City, Long Island and Plattsburgh."

Mullen said he went through a similar experience in Green Bay when he was running Bird's Eye. City leaders spent more than two years debating whether they could help the company's food plant with an expansion project.

As delays dragged on, Mullen reached the point of no return and was forced to close the plant and shift operations elsewhere.

"It hurt," Mullen said of the Green Bay decision. "But private business has its own timelines. Business understands the public-sector process, but sometimes it doesn't mix in with its own schedule."

Bass Pro disappointment aside, Mullen said he remains "bullish on the (Canal Side) project."

He isn't saying that just because he is Empire State Development Corp. chairman and, by extension, a director of Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. He is man of convictions, say those who know him.

He bristles when people say "nothing has happened" at Canal Side.

Mullen points to development of the Central Wharf site, the demolition of Memorial Auditorium, creation of the commercial slip and construction of the district's cobblestone streets. All have taken place in the five years since Erie Canal Harbor Development was formed.