BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Niagara Convention Center is getting a facelift — and a new name — while officials shelve plans for a brand new facility.

What You Need To Know

  • The Buffalo Convention Center will get a new facade as part of investments made by Erie County
  • County leaders have put aside a proposal to build a brand new convention center
  • Cost of the upgrades are expected to be less than $10 million

"This is the new Buffalo,” said Mark Poloncarz, Erie County executive. “Buffalo is back, and we should not have a convention center that looks like it was built in 1970.”

The convention center opened in 1978 to be exact. It will become known as the Buffalo Convention Center, dropping Niagara from the title.

It's also getting a new look facade as part of renovations outside and inside that the county is making to the downtown building. It's expected to cost less than $10 million.

"So that it was appropriate not only for our region, but also the convention and visitors business that we are seeking to attract here in the new Buffalo," Poloncarz said.

But it was just last year when county leaders said the current facility was too small and obsolete, while announcing a proposal to build a brand new convention center for hundreds of millions of dollars.

The county executive says those plans are now no longer a priority.

"We realize to invest in what would be a very, very expensive product without any real guarantee of return would make no sense," Poloncarz said. "I do not want to be in a situation where I saddle this community with hundreds of millions of debt and then not be able to see a return from it. I don't know what's going to look like, none of us know what it's going to look like two to three years from now, nevertheless 10 years from now." 

That's largely because of the major impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on slowing down the convention and visitors business. Leaders don't expect it to fully return to what it was for several more years.  

"For the most part, meetings and conventions ceased to exist for a while,” said Patrick Kaler, Visit Buffalo Niagara president and CEO. “They're coming back slowly and we’re starting to see that transition back to business here in Buffalo.”

As for scrapping those plans for a new convention center, Poloncarz says it has nothing to do with another major project on the horizon: paying for a potential new football stadium for the Bills.

"I'm not averse to doing big projects together,” Poloncarz said. “I don't think there's a problem with that, but we have a lot of other big projects that maybe aren't as interesting to the general public that cost of a lot money like sewer plants and works like that.”

Work on the new facade is slated for early next year, and have the new look complete by December 2022. New doors are also part of the project, as is new lighting in the lobby already completed.