BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The implosion of the old Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital is being celebrated as a new beginning for the city of Buffalo.

"I think that this is symbolic of the new Buffalo: not tearing apart communities, bringing good things to communities, bringing as less disruption as we can but bringing but bringing the best that we can fast," said Darius Pridgen.

But some residents think the city may be moving too fast.

"The development that is proposed down there and the lack of city control through appropriate zoning control is going to diminish our life and our property value. So we're not happy with it," said Jim Smith.

Jim Smith lives on Lancaster Street directly across the street from the proposed i$150 million residential and retail project being proposed by developer TM Montante. Smith and other residents are concerned that rezoning the area around Gates Circle could open the door for more than they bargained for.

"I think it's going to have a huge impact on this street. My neighbors are getting tired of my metaphor but that'll turn Lancaster Avenue and perhaps some of the other streets between Elmwood, which is great to have down there and this new, really it's a shopping mall, a small mall with buildings and residences put on top, but it'll turn this street into a mall access road," said Smith.

Montante plans to have the site cleaned up and shovel ready by early next year to begin construction on the new Cantebury Woods retirement home. That building is scheduled to be completed in less than two years. In the meantime Smith says he'd like to see a more incremental approach to development.

"That way we can evaluate the impact and see what might happen what does happen and see where we want to go, not just us but the city. I think that's a compromise," said Jim Smith.