![]() "What we have here is really unique, historical, industrial architecture that speaks to Buffalo," Swift said, "and we wanted to incorporate that history and that architecture into the space." He envisions a climbing gym, ropes course and zip-lining next. The "six-pack" will soon house a craft brewery, developer Doug Swift said. One former grain silo has been covered with vinyl decals to resemble a giant Labatt Blue six-pack, making clear the sponsor of an annual pond hockey tournament held each winter in its shadow. Nearby, the sprawling RiverWorks complex is the site of roller derby and 500-seat restaurant. His "Silo City" and the grounds around them have become the setting for theatre productions, outdoor concerts, foot races, literary readings and art installations, with plans for snowshoeing through a maze of trails to keep people coming year-round. Since then, he has come to view the structures as "found art," its potential revealing itself with the help of creative types whose perspective he values. "It's all about a re-appreciation of what makes us unique as a region," said Rick Smith, who bought a collection of the grain elevators near his Rigidized Metals business with plans for an ethanol plant that were later scrapped as too costly. Too historic to tear down, too far gone to re-open, these "industrial cathedrals," as preservationist Tim Tielman describes them, have stood frozen in time as Buffalo's waterfront has transformed around them.īut lately, these sleeping giants are being re-awakened, not as off-limits industrial workhorses but places to eat, drink and play for a public eager to literally touch the city's past. A worn-looking collection of grain silos left over from Buffalo's heyday as a shipping hub tower like enormous cement pipe organs along the Buffalo River.
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