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Buffalo City Hall, an enduring symbol of past glory, and recently, a beacon of renewal.
Welcome back to Buffalo In decline since 1950, the city is finally reversing its downward trend, and architects and engineers are taking part in the recovery.
By RICHARD MASSEY Managing Editor W hen architect Michael Tunkey graduated from his hometown college, the University of Buffalo, in 1998, he really had no choice. He had to leave town. There just wasn’t any work in the Rust Belt city, still in the midst of a catastrophic, multi- decade economic implosion. So he did as many did back in those days. He packed his bags and left. And for Tunkey, it was certain- ly for the best. He worked in Boston – where he earned is M.A. in architecture from Harvard – New York, and for eight years in one of the most dynam- ic cities in the world, Shanghai, before returning to Buffalo with his family two years ago. Like many ex-pats from Buffalo – and there are plenty of them – Tunkey never quite got over the love for his hometown, and during
summer vacations, would return to his roots to visit friends and family. And as time unfolded, he started noticing something. “A lot of cool stuff was going on in Buffalo,” he says. “The economy was growing enough to give me op- portunity.” Perhaps the biggest catalyst for the turnaround was the location of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus downtown. The consortium of healthcare institutions, clustered in a 120-acre area, kicked off a building boom and reinvigorated a blighted part of town, two things Buffalo desperately needed. The city also began to reclaim its Inner Harbor, a key initiative for quality of life. Also of significance is that both Delaware North, a global hospitality company, and Pegula Sports and Entertainment, owner of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills
Michael S. Tunkey, Principal, CannonDesign
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