Buffalo's historic Central Terminal is moving closer to becoming a year-round destination after state awarded a $5 million grant for a signficant project.
Central Terminal Restoration Corporation vice chairman Paul Lang says the funding will go toward restoring the restaurant and the waiting room off the main concourse.
"The concourse is a grand space. It can hold probably 6,000 people easily. But $5 million is not going to heat or cool the concourse space. It's just unrealistic. However, within $5 million, I think we can probably get heating into a restored waiting room. So that allows us to be able to continue the event season off-season, if you will, the colder months [like] November, February and March," Lang said.
Lang says the goal is to hold more events and increase the cash flow to pay for more renovations.
Lang has spent more than a decade volunteering with the CTRC, which has been working since 1997 to save the 90-year-old East Side landmark. He says seeing the state's vote of confidence in the organization is rewarding.
"The whole organization is excited about what the future may hold for us," Lang said.
Lang says funding will also go towards adding bathrooms and making the concourse weather-tight. He says the CTRC is aiming to have the work completed by the summer of 2020.
