LECOM Harborcenter

Last updated

LECOM Harborcenter
HarborCenter Dec2015.JPG
LECOM Harborcenter
General information
StatusCompleted
TypeStadium, commercial, hotel
Architectural style Postmodern architecture
Location100 Washington St, Buffalo, New York, United States
Coordinates 42°52′36″N78°52′36″W / 42.87664°N 78.876686°W / 42.87664; -78.876686
Construction startedMarch 1, 2013
Topped-outJune 25, 2014
CompletedOctober/November 2014 (Restaurants/rinks/training facility)
August 2015 (hotel)
OpeningOctober 31, 2014 / November 6, 2014
Cost US$ 172.2 million (est)
Owner Terry Pegula
Management Buffalo Sabres
Height
Roof240 ft (73 m)
Technical details
Floor count20 [1]
Floor area600,000 sq ft (56,000 m2)
Design and construction
Architecture firm Populous
DeveloperHarborcenter Development, LLC
Main contractor Mortenson Construction
Other information
Number of roomsHotel: 205 rooms
Parking750 spaces
Website
lecomharborcenter.com
The Rinks at Harborcenter
The Rinks at HarborCenter logo.png
LECOM Harborcenter
Location7th Floor
Public transit NFTA Metro Rail (Erie Canal Harbor)
OwnerTerry Pegula
OperatorBuffalo Sabres
Capacity 1,800 (Rink 1)
150 (Rink 2)
Surface200' x 85' (Rinks 1 and 2)
Construction
Broke groundMarch 1, 2013
OpenedOctober 31, 2014
Tenants
Canisius Golden Griffins (NCAA) 2014–present
Buffalo Jr. Sabres (OJHL) 2014–present
Buffalo Beauts (NWHL) 2015–2019
Erie Kats (NJCAA) 2014–2018
Buffalo Sabres (practice facility)

LECOM Harborcenter is an American mixed-use development in Buffalo, New York, developed by Pegula Sports and Entertainment. The building occupies a full 1.7 acre city block formerly known as the Webster Block, directly across from and connected to the KeyBank Center and Canalside. [2] The building is also near the southern terminus of the Erie Canal Harbor (Metro Rail) station.

Contents

The development features retail and restaurant space, a 205-room Buffalo Marriott Harborcenter Hotel, as well as two hockey rinks that are the home of the Buffalo Jr. Sabres of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, the Canisius Golden Griffins of the NCAA, and the Erie Kats of the National Junior College Athletic Association. The rinks are also the Buffalo Sabres practice facility.

Construction

The beginning concept for the building, specifically the dual ice rinks and parking garage combo came after Buffalo Sabres chief development officer Cliff Benson led a group of team officials to Washington, D.C. to view the Washington Capitals practice facility, the Kettler Capitals Iceplex. [3] The complex, which is built on top of a parking garage, has seating for 1,200, a training center, proshop, and is home to many area teams. This trip helped the group form their ideas. Originally just planned to be two hockey rinks on top of a parking garage, the hotel and restaurant concepts were later added to the plan by Terry Pegula's wife, Kim Pegula. [4]

Construction of the 20-story Harborcenter began in March 2013, [5] the same month the Webster Block was purchased from the City of Buffalo for $2.2 million. [6] The building was built by Mortenson Construction with ICON Venue Group serving as the project manager. [7] The building's hockey rink portion topped out on June 25, 2014, as the last structural beam for the hotel was put into place. Building construction was completed on the whole building in August 2015. [8] The rinks and restaurants opened on October 31 and November 6, 2014. The hotel opened on August 27, 2015. [9] [10]

Operations

Harborcenter was financed by Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula and is owned by the Pegula's company Pegula Sports and Entertainment. [11] The building contains indoor parking for 750 vehicles, and features two NHL regulation indoor ice rinks on the building's sixth floor, one with an 1,800-seat capacity and the other with a 150-seat capacity. IMPACT Sports Performance owned by the Pegulas operates Harborcenter's 5,000 square foot, high performance off-ice training facility located on the building's 6th floor. The building also contains a classroom and RapidShot Hockey Training System.

The development is one of the most expensive for any privately funded single building in the city of Buffalo history. The project is designed to achieve LEED certification, with a goal of LEED Silver. The building was pledged by Pegula and others involved upon obtaining the property to open at the time by September 2014 making it one of the faster projects in the area.

On September 10, 2019, Pegula Sports and Entertainment reached a 10-year naming rights agreement for the building with Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM). [12]

Commercial tenants

The building contains a 205-room Marriott hotel operated by Shaner Hotels, plus retail and restaurant space. [13] A two floor 716 Food and Sport restaurant opened on October 31, 2014. Also, Harborcenter features a flagship Tim Hortons that pays tribute to Tim Horton, the Buffalo Sabres, and the former Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. [14] The restaurant opened on October 30, 2014. A Statue of Tim Horton was dedicated across the street the same day. The building also contains a pro shop.

The building also has storefronts along Main Street known as The Shops at HarborCanter for smaller street front tenants which are expected to be leased out. The first store that opened in Harborcenter was Red Siren, which is a women's specialty store. It features gifts, jewelry, leather and clothing not currently found in the Buffalo area. Red Siren opened in the Summer of 2015, around the time when the Mariott Harborcenter Hotel opened. [15] Other stores include Modern Nostalgia, Fowler's Chocolates and Clayton's Toys & Gifts. [16] It was announced in July 2016 that Modern Nostalgia would be leaving Harborcenter. They were replaced by Healthy Scratch, a quick-serve restaurant and boutique operated by Kelly and Jessica Pegula. [17] Clayton's, Fowler's and Red Siren all announced their departure from Harborcenter in September 2017, with employees citing slow sales and inconsistent traffic for their departure. [18] [19]

In May 2015, it was announced that Advanced Care Physical Therapy would lease space inside Impact Sports Performance, located inside the Harborcenter. This provides a complete range of sports medicine services to athletes and employees who use the facility. [20]

Hockey tenants

The development's two ice rinks, known collectively as The Rinks, is the home of the Canisius Golden Griffins, an NCAA Division I college hockey program in Buffalo, as well as the Buffalo Jr. Sabres [21] [22] with the Griffins and Junior Sabres playing in the larger rink 1 known as KeyBank Rink at Harborcenter with separate dedicated dressing rooms. Rink 1 is also home to the Erie Community College Kats's of the NJCAA. The smaller rink 2 is known as New Wave Energy Rink under a separate naming rights deal.

The Rinks are also the home to the Academy of Hockey and the Harborcenter Cup as well as serving as the Buffalo Sabres' practice facility. The rinks were opened on October 31, 2014 with the first of back to back games between Canisius and Ohio State which resulted in a 3–3 tie, and games involving the Buffalo Jr. Sabres 16U and 18U teams.[ citation needed ]

Annually, on the weekend of Veterans Day, the Buffalo Sabres Thunder, a special needs hockey team, hosts a tournament known as the Buffalo Fall Festival at The Rinks. [ citation needed ]

In 2015, the NHL Scouting Combine was moved from Toronto to Harborcenter under a two-year pact. Buffalo also hosted the NHL Entry Draft in 2016. The NHL subsequently announced that it would continue to hold the combine in Buffalo through at least 2019. [23] [24] The 2015 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships were held at Harborcenter. [25]

In January 2016, the venue hosted the inaugural National Women's Hockey League all-star game. [26] In 2016, the CHA conference tournament in women's college hockey began to be hosted at Harborcenter. [27]

From June 22 to July 3, 2017, rink 1 hosted a charity event known as 11 Day Power Play, which set a world record for the longest continuous hockey game. [28] It has since become an annual event at Harborcenter.

The 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships were co-hosted by the KeyBank Rink and KeyBank Center. [29]

In September 2018, it was announced that the Atlantic Hockey Tournament, an NCAA Division I Men's ice hockey league tournament would be moving to Harborcenter from Rochester's Blue Cross Arena starting in 2019.

The NHL Rookie Tournament is also hosted at HarborCenter.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "MARRIOTT, SHANER HOTELS EXCITED TO PARTNER WITH HARBORCENTER". nhl.com. July 17, 2013. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
  2. ↑ Terreri, Jill (February 19, 2013). "HARBORCENTER gets city, state approvals". The Buffalo News. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
  3. ↑ http://www.wgrz.com/news/article/179714/1/Webster-Block-City-Picks-Sabres-for-Development-in-Downtown-Buffalo [ dead link ]
  4. ↑ http://www.harborcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/HARBORCENTER-GroundUp.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  5. ↑ Terreri, Jill (March 11, 2013). "Streets to close around First Niagara Center". Buffalo News. Retrieved April 10, 2013.
  6. ↑ Fink, James (March 8, 2013). "Sabres deeded site of $170M Harborcenter". Buffalo Business First. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Hockey-Themed Mixed-Use Development". ICON Venue Group. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Mortenson Celebrates Substantial Completion of the Buffalo Marriott HARBORCENTER Hotel - Sports - News - Mortenson". www.mortenson.com.
  9. ↑ "HarborCenter Grand Opening set for November 6". WGRZ-TV . Gannett Company. Archived from the original on October 14, 2014. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
  10. ↑ Fink, James (August 21, 2015). "HarborCenter Marriott ready to open by early September". Buffalo Business First. American City Business Journals. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  11. ↑ Fink, James (February 12, 2013). "Sabres say Harborcenter cost rises to $170M". Buffalo Business First. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Call it LECOM Harborcenter, after naming rights deal". The Buffalo News. September 10, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Hotel Flag Chosen: Marriott Buffalo Harbor Center". Buffalo Rising. July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Tim Hortons – The Flagship Store Opens". October 30, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Retail store 'Red Siren' to open in HARBORCENTER". WGRZ-TV . Gannett Company.
  16. ↑ Watson, Stephen T. (May 19, 2015). "Sabres identify last 3 retailers for Harborcenter mini-mall".[ permanent dead link ]
  17. ↑ Fink, James (August 11, 2016). "Pegula daughters to open Healthy Scratch in Harborcenter". Buffalo Business First. American City Business Journals.
  18. ↑ "Three initial retail stores pulling out of HarborCenter - Buffalo - Buffalo Business First". Archived from the original on August 10, 2017.
  19. ↑ "Three stores in Shops at Harborcenter will close". The Buffalo News. August 10, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  20. ↑ "Advanced Care PT expands with new site at Harborcenter". Buffalo Business First. American City Business Journals. May 2, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Sabres Set To Acquire Land And Minor Hockey Program". Junior Hockey News. Junior Hockey News. March 8, 2013. Retrieved April 10, 2013.
  22. ↑ Big plans, big questions for new women's pro hockey league. ESPN. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  23. ↑ Harrington, Mike (August 18, 2014). "NHL Scouting Combine to hit Harborcenter in 2015 and '16". Buffalo News.
  24. ↑ "NHL Scouting Combine to remain in Buffalo". NHL.com.
  25. ↑ "Buffalo to host two world championships in 2015". Niagara Frontier Publications. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  26. ↑ Clinton, Jared. "NWHL season to begin Oct. 11, All-Star Game set for Jan. 24". The Hockey News. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  27. ↑ "College Hockey America women's championship booked for Harborcenter". Buffalo Business First. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  28. ↑ "Hockey marathoners break record on 11th day". Associated Press. July 3, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  29. ↑ "USA HOCKEY SELECTS BUFFALO SABRES AS HOST OF 2018 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP". NHL.com. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
Events and tenants
Preceded by Home of the
Canisius Golden Grifffins
2014–present		Succeeded by
current
Preceded by
first arena
 Host of the
Buffalo Beauts
2015–2019		Succeeded by
Preceded by Home of the
Buffalo Jr. Sabres
2014–present		Succeeded by
current
Preceded by Host of the
IIHF World Junior Championship
2018 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Host of the Division III men's Frozen Four
2020 		Succeeded by
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