Long discussed, the DL&W is poised to become waterfront ‘anchor’

There has been talk for years of opening the cavernous Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad train shed, with little to date to show for it.

That is expected to change in the coming months.

After more than two years of track work, the Niagara Frontier Transit Authority plans to open the primarily state-funded $57 million, ground-level DL&W Station in January 2025 with two four-car platforms. A stair tower a South Park Avenue and Illinois Streets is expected to be completed in May 2025, with a skybridge connecting to KeyBank Center at South Park Avenue and Main Street coming in 2026.

City passenger rail will share about half of the 100,000-square-foot space with the Yards and Shops complex used to keep Metro Rail cars in service since the 1980s.

On the second floor, construction is expected to begin next year on a planned $52 million multiuse space that envisions a public market, artists, food vendors and a place for gathering for music and special events. The first phase is expected to open in 2026 with 75,000 square fee of space indoors and 55,000 square feet outdoors that will offer some of the best riverfront views in Buffalo.