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

A new economic strategy to generate development opportunities in downtown Buffalo will result in a targeted approach to finding new life for existing buildings, as well as encourage continued new projects in such areas as Larkinville, Canalside and the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

For the strategy to work, however, planners say certain conditions must be met, including funneling the projects through a single agency and providing some crucial public and private seed money.

Buffalo's new downtown economic development game plan, crafted by a committee overseen by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership and directed by Mayor Byron Brown, will serve as template for present and future projects.

 It is considered the next chapter in the Queen City Hub development blueprint that was put together by the Partnership and others a decade ago.

"Buffalo needs a delivery system that is customer-friendly and development-savvy," said Andrew Rudnick, Partnership president and chief executive officer.

To that end, he and Brown say they want all downtown projects to be funneled through Buffalo Urban Development Corp., whose staff will direct the efforts.

"Somebody has to be in charge and you need an entity that is capable of being in charge," Rudnick said.

"BUDC is almost a no-brainer. We do not need to create another entity."

Acknowledging that many of the targeted projects will need some sort of public assistance, Brown said he is allocating $11.25 million in seed money to help with gap financing.

He said the payoff is that the city's seed money could result in private investment downtown approaching $78 million during the next five years. It also could see as much as 800,000 square feet of office space absorbed and 1 million square feet of residential space coming online.

The projects could see as many as 1,500 jobs created in Buffalo, Brown added, saying, "Just the potential of that many new jobs being created is quite compelling."

The new economic development game plan comes at a crucial time

 While there have been advances in the past decade, especially in new residential units and creation of the Larkinville district, many issues remain.

They include the fate of the 38-story One HSBC Center, which could lose its two main office anchors - Phillips Lytle LLP and HSBC Bank USA N.A.

The 850,000-square-foot building could be looking at nearly 77 percent of its space sitting empty when those they move. The law firm is moving to the renovated Donovan State Office Building in early 2014 and HSBC may downsize its office space by as much as 90 percent. The bank leases portions of 22 floors in the building.

"There are critical factors," Rudnick said. "We need a starting point along with the right tools and right agency."