From Delaware Avenue, poor aesthetics and negative traffic impact of convention center is obvious: Mohawk, Genesee Streets blocked.

The “New Buffalo Convention Center Site Selection Study,” produced late last year, offers eight reuse options for the existing convention center. They are all more or less ridiculous, losers right out of the gate (Police HQ? Great imagery, fellas, Tennis/Sports facility? Court time: $3000 an hour. Parking ramp? Puh-leez). Then, of course, there is the casino option. Gamblers don’t give a damn what their dens look like, and the hidden service ramps could conceal the removal of all the fine people who kill themselves in the bathrooms. It would also be convenient to services often needed by gamblers, like Social Services, jails, and Family Court. Intriguing synergy here.

Demolition is an addition option. This is tempting. The building was a piece of architectural offal from the moment it was built, and it violently disrupts Joseph Ellicott’s Genesee Street just one block from Niagara Square. Preservationists would battle for the right to press the detonator.

Yet, it is a big public investment not yet paid for, it is just over 20 years old, and it would be ideally suited for a privately run meeting and banquet hall. It would also be suited for active, day-long uses requiring big interior spaces and no windows: movie theaters, live theater, and exhibit space for large-scale art shows.

A partial demolition that removes the northern-most bay and nips off the part of a second would reopen Mohawk St. and the northern sidewalk of Genesee St. while leaving intact the lobby, banquet room, and main service and circulation areas.

View from Main Street. Reopening Mohawk St. would return 1902 YMCA bldg. (r.) to prominence, improve circulation.

So how about a Superplex of theaters, art spaces, and banquet and meeting halls? The main entry could be through a high-end floor court off Mohawk, with views through full-height windows to the majestic YMCA. Reopening Mohawk would reactivate it, be crucial to a Loft District east of Main, and help Chippewa and Main Streets, too.