Seneca One Tower

One Seneca Tower
One Seneca Tower
	One Seneca Tower, in Buffalo, NY
Former names	One HSBC Center, Marine Midland Center
Record height
	Tallest in Buffalo since 1970[I]
Preceded by	Buffalo City Hall
General information
Status	Completed
Type	Office
Location	1 Seneca Tower, Buffalo, NY, USA
Construction started	1969
Completed	1972
Cost	50 million US$($415 million in 2024 dollars)
Owner	Seneca One Realty
Management	Seneca One Realty
Height
Roof	529 ft (161 m)
Technical details
Floor count	40 (38 occupiable)
Floor area	1,200,000 sq ft (111,483.6 m2)
Lifts/elevators	27
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Other information
Parking	800 spaces
Website
	Official website

One Seneca Tower is a skyscraper located in downtown Buffalo, New York. 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 rebranded the bank as HSBC Bank USA.^[2] The building was constructed at a cost of $50 million between 1969 and 1972, and contains over 1,200,000 square feet (110,000 m²) of space. Today, the 40 story building still dominates the Buffalo skyline, at 529 feet (161 m), or 161.2 meters high. It is an example of modernist style architecture.^[3] The building's design is similar to that of the 33 South Sixth building in Minneapolis.

Building facts

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.
One Seneca Tower is the tallest (privately owned) office building outside of NYC in New York State. The tallest publicly owned building outside of NYC being Erastus Corning Tower in Albany, New York.
The building's plaza hosts Ronald Bladen's monumental 1973 work titled "Vroom, Shhh."
The building spans the southern end of Main Street, under which the Buffalo Metro Rail passes.
On a clear day, One Seneca Tower can be seen from 20 miles (32 km) away along the New York State Thruway. 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 Ralph Wilson Stadium (particularly the Lake Ave. and Abbott Rd. intersection), and the Grand Island bridges along the Niagara section of the Thruway. It can also be seen looking west from Route 77 in Bennington and Attica, near the windmills.

Tenants

PricewaterhouseCoopers
Seymour H. Knox Foundation
The John R. Oshei Foundation
UBS AG Financial Services
Harold C. Brown
SoftBank Capital
Robert Half International
WBXZ-LP (broadcasts from atop the building)

Significant Former tenants

Future

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 is 90 percent vacant as of 2014.^[5]^[6]

Gallery

view from canal side
One HSBC Center behind Ellicott Square Building
Coca-Cola Field with The One HSBC Center building in the background viewed from the 3rd base side of the park.
Downtown Buffalo in 1973, shortly after the skyscraper (on the left) was completed

References

^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
^ Hartley, Tom (1998). "`Marine Midland' no more". Buffalo Business First. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
^ "One HSBC Center". emporis.com. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
^ Fink, James. Pegula Sports & Entertainment leases floor in One Seneca Tower. Business First. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
^ Epstein, Jonathan (2012). The Buffalo News "`Tower owners see strong future despite HSBC's move to vacate building'". Retrieved 2012-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
^ 6 November 2013. "Seneca Tower mortgage transferred to firm handling high-risk loans". Buffalo News. Retrieved 24 November 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

External links

[inflation-US-1] 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.

[2] Hartley, Tom (1998). "`Marine Midland' no more". Buffalo Business First. Retrieved 2011-05-14.

[3] "One HSBC Center". emporis.com. Retrieved 2011-05-14.

[4] Fink, James. Pegula Sports & Entertainment leases floor in One Seneca Tower. Business First. Retrieved July 24, 2014.

[5] Epstein, Jonathan (2012). The Buffalo News "`Tower owners see strong future despite HSBC's move to vacate building'". Retrieved 2012-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)

[6] 6 November 2013. "Seneca Tower mortgage transferred to firm handling high-risk loans". Buffalo News. Retrieved 24 November 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

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