Seneca One Tower is a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

located in downtown

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

. 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 Marine Midland Bank was an American bank formerly headquartered in Buffalo, New York, with several hundred branches throughout the state of New York (state), New York, Pennsylvania and two branches located in Seattle, Washington (state), Washing ...

's parent company

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

re-branded the bank as

HSBC Bank USA HSBC Bank USA, National Association, an American subsidiary of the British banking group HSBC, is a bank with its operational head office in New York City and its nominal head office in Tysons, Virginia (as designated on its charter). HSBC Bank ...

. 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. It is an example of

modern architecture Modern architecture, also called modernist architecture, or the modern movement, is an architectural movement and style that was prominent in the 20th century, between the earlier Art Deco and later postmodern movements. Modern architectur ...

. The building's design is similar to that of the 33 South Sixth building in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, which was designed by the same architectural firm. In 2021, the entire tower and four 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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. *Seneca One Tower is the tallest privately owned office building outside of New York City within New York state. The tallest publicly owned building outside of New York City is Erastus Corning Tower in Albany. *The building's plaza hosts Ronald Bladen's 1973 work titled "Vroom, Shhh." *The building spans the southern end of Main Street, along 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 beneath the building. *The building was renovated by the Buffalo-based architecture firm, Antunovich Associates. *M&T Bank Tech Hub, also designed by Antunovich Associates, moved into Seneca One in November 2020.

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 a ...

*W227BW (FM 93.3), relays WZXV

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 950+ branches in 12 states and Washington D.C. across the Eastern United States, from Maine to Vi ...

* Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield * 43 North * Serendipity Labs * Other Half Brewing * Twipes * Hounds & Hops * Douglas Development Buffalo * Lighthouse Technology Services

Significant former tenants

Odoo Odoo is a business management software suite developed in Belgium. It includes modules for customer relationship management, e-commerce, billing, accounting, manufacturing, warehouse operations, project management, and inventory management. I ...

Pegula Sports and Entertainment Pegula Sports & Entertainment (PSE) was an American sports and entertainment company based in Buffalo, New York. The company was established after billionaire Terry Pegula combined his sports, property and entertainment assets into one company. ...

* Consulate General of Canada in Buffalo *Phillips Lytle

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. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

–based Douglas Development will buy One Seneca tower. On September 29, 2016, Buffalo Business First reported that Douglas Jemal 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, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

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 cannon, ...

. 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–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

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 with previous HSBC branding and façade. File:Ellicott Square Building.JPG, Seneca One Tower (then named One HSBC Center) behind Ellicott Square Building 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. File:Seneca One Tower in 2023 - Quintin Soloviev.jpg, The tower from a drone with

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...

in the background, December 2023

References

External links

Skyscraperpage 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