Buffalo's Outer Harbor
Outer Harbor's Lakeside Complex, which opened in May 2019. Photo credit: Joe Cascio/ECHDC.
The Buffalo Billion committed $10 million for improvements to transform Buffalo Harbor State Park into a new visitor destination that continues the revitalization of the city’s waterfront. The Buffalo Billion also committed $5 million to enhance access and facilitate greater public use and enjoyment of Buffalo's Outer Harbor via the Outer Harbor Access & Activation Project I, now opened and called Lakeside Complex. Buffalo Billion II commits $15 million to provide rapid, visible and usable improvements to the Buffalo Outer Harbor via the Outer Harbor Access & Activation Project II.
New York State is making a historic commitment to improving and expanding access to outdoor recreation. In 2013, almost 400 acres of land on the Outer Harbor was transferred from the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority to Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation (ECHDC). As part of that transfer, Buffalo Harbor State Park was designated as the 180th state park in New York’s system and the first in the City of Buffalo. The remaining approximately 247 acres of land north of Buffalo Harbor State Park is now operated by the ECHDC, which completed several capital improvements to increase public access to and use of this property, and conducted several community-driven planning studies that have informed the current and future disposition of the project site.