Waterfront committee refers Erie Basin marina, Templeton Landing planning to City Development

On Sept. 3, 2025, the Buffalo Common Council Waterfront Development Committee voted to refer long-term planning for the Erie Basin Marina and the pending disposition of Templeton Landing to the council—s City Development Committee for further review, committee members said.

The referral came after Scott Billman, general counsel for the Urban Renewal Agency, told the committee that a 2001 ground-lease arrangement requires disposition discussions and that the current tenant, Specialty Restaurants, has rights tied to a decades-old lease. Billman said the lease "is expiring" and that "after that, we go to a month to month, per New York law." He added that under the lease provisions the agency would be required to transfer the property to Specialty "at no value," and that Specialty "are entitled to that transfer."

Nadine Marrero of the Office of Strategic Planning told members the city already has multiple waterfront planning efforts that bear on any future uses, including the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP), several Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) plans, and a recently completed downtown waterfront improvement plan. Marrero said the downtown plan "put forth a number of proposals" including a pedestrian connection toward Templeton Landing and that the…