Seneca One Tower is a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ri ...

located in downtown

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. The building was formerly known as One HSBC Center (1999–2013) and prior to that, as Marine Midland Center (1972–1999), its name was changed in 1999 shortly after Marine Midland's parent company

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tr ...

re-branded the bank as HSBC Bank USA. The building was constructed at a cost of $50 million between 1969 and 1974, and contains over of space. Today, the 40 story building still dominates the Buffalo skyline, at high. It is an example of

modern architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that for ...

. The building's design is similar to that of the

33 South Sixth 33 South Sixth, formerly known as International Multifoods Tower, is a skyscraper in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and stands 52 stories tall at . Its name comes from its address: 33 South S ...

building in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

, which was designed by the same architectural firm. In 2021, the entire tower and 4 mezzanine floors were finished being renovated as part of a $150 million renovation by Douglas Development, which included adding over 200 prime rate apartments.

Building facts

*The building was designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) and completed in 1972, with the interiors completed in 1974. The lead architect was Marc Goldstein; John Merrill was partner-in-charge. The interiors were designed by Davis Allen and Margo Grant Walsh. *The tower was the world headquarters of Marine Midland until 1998, and served as the headquarters of HSBC USA until 1999, when it moved its U. S. headquarters to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. *Seneca One Tower is the tallest (privately owned) office building outside of

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in New York State. The tallest publicly owned building outside of NYC is

Erastus Corning Tower The Erastus Corning Tower, also known as the Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd Tower or simply the Corning Tower, is a skyscraper located in downtown Albany, New York, Albany, New York (state), New York. Completed in 1973 and sided with Vermont Pearl marb ...

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Cit ...

. *The building's plaza host
Ronald Bladen's
monumental 1973 work titled "Vroom, Shhh." *The building spans the southern end of Main Street, under which the

Buffalo Metro Rail Buffalo Metro Rail is the public transit rail system in Buffalo, New York, operated by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA). The system consists of a single, light rail line that runs for most of the length of Main Street ( New ...

passes. *On a clear day, Seneca One Tower can be seen from away along the

New York State Thruway , direction_a = South , terminus_a = {{Jct, state=NY, I, 95 at the The Bronx, Bronx–Yonkers, New York City line , junction = {{plainlist, * {{jct, state=NY, I, 287, Parkway, Saw Mill, NY, 119 in Elmsford, New York, Elmsford * {{jct, state=NY, ...

. Due to the large number of railroad overpasses in Erie County, the skyscraper can also be seen from many vantage points along Harlem Road, Union Road, the 400 expressway (as far away as Elma), areas nearby Highmark Stadium (particularly the Lake Avenue and Abbott Road intersection), to the south as far away as Chestnut Ridge Road, and the Grand Island bridges along the Niagara section of the Thruway from the north. It can also be seen looking west from Route 77 in Bennington and

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean ...

, near the windmills. The building can also be seen from the Fallsview hotels on the Canadian side of

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the U.S. state, state ...

Broadcast towers atop the building

* WBXZ-LD (TV 56) *W275BB (FM 102.9), relays

WECK WECK (1230 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Cheektowaga, New York and serving the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Area. The station airs a locally-produced and locally hosted oldies music format. The studios, offices an ...

*W227BW (FM 93.3), relays

WZXV WZXV (99.7 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Christian radio format. Licensed to Palmyra, New York, United States, the station serves the Rochester area and, through a network of translators, most of central and western New York (southwes ...

Current tenants

The following is a list of significant tenants : *

M&T Bank M&T Bank Corporation (Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company) is an American bank holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. It operates 1680 branches in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts ...

43 North 43 North is an accelerator programme, founded by Empire State Development and the State of New York, that hosts an annual startup competition investing $5 million per year to attract and cultivate high-growth companies in Buffalo, NY. 43North p ...

Odoo Odoo is a suite of business management software tools including, for example, CRM, e-commerce, billing, accounting, manufacturing, warehouse, project management, and inventory management. During Odoo experience which took place in Belgium i ...

*Serendipity Labs * AML RightSource * PCI *Douglas Development Buffalo

Significant former tenants

* Consulate General of Canada in Buffalo * HSBC Bank USA * Pegula Sports and Entertainment *Phillips Lytle LLP

History

On December 5, 2012, HSBC Bank USA announced that they would vacate the space it leased in the tower by the time their lease expires in October 2013. Paired with the departure of Phillips Lytle LLP, and the recent closing of the Canadian Consulate, the tower was 90 percent vacant as of 2014. In August 2016, it was announced that Washington, D.C. based Douglas Development will buy One Seneca tower. On September 29, 2016, Buffalo Business First reported that

Douglas Jemal Douglas Jemal (born November 30, 1942)

of Washington, D.C. had completed the purchase of One Seneca Tower and an adjacent parking ramp with plans to redevelop the tower and plaza into a mixed-use complex including retail, restaurant, hotel, office and apartment components. In June 2019,

announced it would occupy 15 of the tower's floors as the bank's "technology hub." In 2020, the building gained a paint scheme of

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

and

gunmetal Gun metal, also known as red brass in the United States, is a type of bronze; an alloy of copper, tin and zinc. Proportions vary but 88% copper, 8–10% tin, and 2–4% zinc is an approximation. Originally used chiefly for making guns, it has ...

. In early 2021 an illuminated M&T Bank sign was added to the top of the building, replacing a

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

pennant (a promotional courtesy of the local Oxford Pennant Company) that was temporarily introduced for the team's 2020 season playoff run between the AFC Wild Card and AFC Championship rounds.

Gallery

File:One HSBC Buffalo.jpg, View from

Canalside Canalside, formerly known as Canal Side and Erie Canal Harbor, is the recreation of the western terminus of the Erie Canal in Buffalo, New York. Canalside is situated on the Buffalo River, in an area that was historically home to the Seneca peopl ...

with previous HSBC branding and façade. File:Ellicott Square Building.JPG, Seneca One Tower (then named One HSBC Center) behind

Ellicott Square Building The Ellicott Square Building is a historic office complex, completed in 1896, located in Buffalo, New York. It is found within the Joseph Ellicott Historic District. History The Ellicott Square Building was designed by Charles Atwood of D. H. ...

File:DOWNTOWN BUFFALO LOOKING NORTH - NARA - 549477.jpg, Downtown Buffalo in 1973, shortly after the skyscraper (on the left) was completed File:Seneca one tower with M&T sign .png, Seneca One Tower pictured in April 2021 after M&T bank sign was added. The Buffalo Bills pennant can also be seen.

References

External links

*
Skyscraperpage building page

Emporis building page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seneca One Tower HSBC buildings and structures Skyscraper office buildings in Buffalo, New York Skidmore, Owings & Merrill buildings Office buildings completed in 1970