![]() ![]() I think people are excited that they could be reused for a creative purpose.”īack at ground level, we wave to Silo City caretaker Swannie Jim and stumble upon artistic director Kyle Marler and Flatsitter Media Arts Collective’s 3D virtual reality spirit journey White Buck inside another silo. I think there’s a real curiosity to see what’s inside. “So many people in Buffalo know these buildings. He has had people as young as 12 and as old as 87 do the challenging Silo City: Vertical tour. This year Hahn hopes Explore Buffalo will lead 20,000 people on its Silo City and other city tours. We weave our way through the Perot grain elevator before making our way down. The elevator we climb - following the path of the grain that used to arrive on freighters on the Buffalo River - was built by the American Malting Co. Today, everybody pretty much just refers to the entire complex as grain elevators or silos.” “The silos are the storage units attached to it. “The grain elevator itself is really the mechanical process and conveyor belt,” explains Hahn, whose non-profit group handles guided, historical tours. As he transforms the space, he lets others use it for art and cultural events. Rigidized Metals Corporation president Rick Smith owns the Silo City grain elevator complex and is turning it into an arts hub, with plans for a restaurant and education centre. You can climb them here in the Old First Ward’s Silo City (a.k.a., Elevator Alley), marvel at them from the ground if you’re afraid of heights, kayak in their shadow or admire them from a bike.īuffalo, once the world’s largest grain hub with more than 50 grain elevators, is enjoying a renaissance fuelled by a multimillion-dollar waterfront redevelopment. Indeed, nothing says the urban renewal of a Rust Belt city quite like repurposing abandoned waterfront grain elevators. “You’re not going to find something like this anywhere else.” “This is authentic Buffalo,” declares Brad Hahn, executive director of Explore Buffalo. BUFFALO, N.Y.-It’s a steep and unnerving climb up a series of staircases, some spiral, and a final ladder to the roof of the decommissioned American grain elevator complex.īut when you’ve made it up those 10-odd storeys, all is forgotten as you catch your breath and then lose it again absorbing the panoramic view of a city using its industrial heritage for a dynamic future. ![]()
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