SENECA ONE - Sparkles with Light, Innovation, Technology
In 1972, when Skidmore, Owings & Merrill created what is now Seneca One Tower, they leaned into one important design element — the sun.
“They positioned it to work with sunrises and sunsets. The windows just pump in natural light throughout all the seasons, even in the dreariest days of winter,” said Sean Heidinger, Director of Business Development with Douglas Development Corporation, current owner and developer of the property once known as the Marine Midland Center, and later, HSBC Center.
In 2016, Washington, D.C. developer Douglas Jemal purchased the property and has since infused $120 million into reimagining it as a 21st century mixed-use development. He hired Chicagobased architecture firm Antunovich Associates to modernize the 1.4 million-square-foot complex that sits within walking distance of Canalside, Sahlen Field, and the theater district. The work has included designing office space in the tower, retail stores in the plaza, and 115 high-end apartments on three floors of the west annex.
When M&T Bank, the anchor tenant, decided to move its information technology workforce there, Seneca One soon became something else — a tech hub. Other technology-focused companies followed, including Serendipity Labs, Techstars, Lighthouse Technology Services, Odoo, and PCI, as well as major players in the Buffalo market, such as 43North, which invests in startups. “We want Seneca One to become the most inclusive and innovative space for technology in Western New York and beyond,” Heidinger said.
It’s also a beautiful space. Light is woven throughout the offices on the plaza and Pearl Street levels. “We were able to cut holes in the slab, so that natural light could flow in,” said architect Julian Looney. “Douglas also wanted to enclose a part of the plaza to the south and capture more usable space. It’s positioned so that you get the sun; it’s really beautiful in the winter.”
Antunovich’s interior design team used a creative mix of natural and artificial light to make the space feel bigger and not like a lower-level,” Looney said.
It’s come a long way. “When we first saw the property, it was brutalist and tired — something we’re used to seeing in D.C,” Looney said. “We looked for ways to freshen it up without tearing down the structure.”
Looney said the wind was a challenge, an element he and his team were quite familiar with in Chicago. After contemplating a couple of solutions, the architects settled on creating two one-story jewel-box buildings — made from steel with high ceilings and thinner roofs — that will house retail establishments. In addition to other construction and revamps, they are redeveloping the east annex into a 50,000-square-foot, multi-level space with outdoor seating, meant as a welcoming attraction. They’ve already built a one-story clubhouse located in front of the tower that includes a bar, a stone fireplace, and a large-screen TV.
The idea behind the revamped Seneca One is to bring together a diverse group of people to work, live, and relax in a healthy and fun environment, Heidinger said.
For the residents, amenities include a gym, yoga classes, an onsite chiropractor and nutritionist, a smoothie bar, and an after-hours “farm to tech fridge.” Seneca One, which will have a host of dining options for its workers, is also designed to accommodate visitors, with offerings such as a free lunchtime jazz series every Wednesday outside the tower’s food hall.
The tower’s lobby offers lounge seating for guests to take a meeting, work remotely, or enjoy a cocktail, and includes nods to its storied past — a huge abstract mural that the Albright-Knox Art Gallery commissioned with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in the 1970s and an installation of safe deposit boxes from the original building’s vaults. The lobby also features a couple of unique and timeless additions: a wooden bar that once graced the set of the HBO hit The Sopranos and two resident parakeets. For an establishment that epitomizes Buffalo’s renewal, its birds have appropriate names: Josh and Allen