The Canalside Land Use Improvement Project is the general project plan (“GPP”) adopted by ECHDC and ESD under the New York State Urban Development Corporation Act (the “UDC Act”) that authorizes all the actions, funding, and approval power embodied by the Canalside Project. The GPP originated from a 1999 plan for the site and has since grown to include a 20-acre project area in downtown Buffalo along the Buffalo River waterfront, the location of the original western terminus of the Erie Canal.  The plan envisioned the development of over 1 million square feet of new mixed-use development (progressively over multiple years), along with significant investments in landside/waterside access and placemaking infrastructure (docks, waterways, streets, bridges, open space/park features, etc.).  Roughly $200 million in state, federal, and local funds have been invested in the project over the last two decades.

Within the GPP area, with the cooperation of the City of Buffalo, ECHDC approved an override of local zoning regulations, which at the time of GPP adoption only permitted industrial and institutional uses.  As part of the plan, ECHDC also approved detailed design guidelines and created a review process and design committee to ensure that new infill development evokes and emulates the character of Erie Canal era development that once existed in this historic section of the city.

The original Canalside GPP was adopted on December 18, 2009, and affirmed on March 26, 2010.  Since then, the project has been modified several times over the years, including:

• 2010, to remove Bass Pro Shops from project planning and provide for the construction of a series of canal features.
• 2012, to include the Harborcenter development.
• 2013, to divide the southern Aud Block into smaller development parcels based on the location of former streets and the Prime Slip.
• 2018, to recognize a new public/private development scenario for the proposed South Aud Block redevelopment projects.   
• 2022, to describe the buildout program of the North Aud Block.