LECOM Harborcenter is an American

mixed-use development Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to ...

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 ...

developed by Pegula Sports and Entertainment. The building occupies a full 1.7 acre city block formerly known as the Webster Block, directly across from and connected to the

KeyBank Center KeyBank Center is a multipurpose indoor arena located in Buffalo, New York. Originally known as Marine Midland Arena, the venue has since been named HSBC Arena and First Niagara Center. Home to the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey Leag ...

and

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 ...

. The building is also near the southern terminus of the

Erie Canal Harbor (Metro Rail) Erie Canal Harbor (formerly Auditorium until September 1, 2003) is a Buffalo Metro Rail station located in the 100 block of Main Street (just north of Hanover and Scott Streets) next to the South Aud Block of Canalside in the Free Fare Zone, wh ...

station. The development features retail and restaurant space, a 205-room Buffalo

Marriott Marriott may refer to: People *Marriott (surname) Corporations * Marriott Corporation, founded as Hot Shoppes, Inc. in 1927; split into Marriott International and Host Marriott Corporation in 1993 * Marriott International, international hot ...

Harborcenter Hotel, as well as two

hockey rink An ice hockey rink is an ice rink that is specifically designed for ice hockey, a competitive team sport. Alternatively it is used for other sports such as broomball, ringette, rinkball, and rink bandy. It is a rectangle with rounded corners and ...

s that are the home of the

Buffalo Jr. Sabres The Buffalo Jr. Sabres are a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Buffalo, New York. They are a part of the Ontario Junior A Hockey League. Its current head coach and general manager is Nick Tuzzolino, who played in the organization during its Buffalo ...

of the

Ontario Junior Hockey League The Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) is a Junior A ice hockey league in Ontario, Canada. It is under the supervision of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) and the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). The league was listed as the 7th best ...

, the

Canisius Golden Griffins The Canisius College Golden Griffins are composed of 16 teams representing Canisius College in intercollegiate athletics. These teams include men's and women's basketball, cross country, track, lacrosse, soccer, and swimming and diving. Men's spor ...

of the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

, and the Erie Kats of the

National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

. The rinks are also the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, alon ...

practice facility.

Construction

The beginning concept for the building, specifically the dual ice rinks and parking garage combo came after

chief development officer Cliff Benson led a group of team officials to Washington, D.C. to view the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

practice facility, the

Kettler Capitals Iceplex MedStar Capitals Iceplex is the practice arena of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League. The highest ice rink above street-level in the United States, it is located on the eighth floor atop the parking garage adjoining the Ballston ...

. The complex, which is built on top of a parking garage, has seating for 1,200, a training center, proshop, and is home to many area teams. This trip helped the group form their ideas. Originally just planned to be two hockey rinks on top of a parking garage, the hotel and restaurant concepts were later added to the plan by Terry Pegula's wife, Kim Pegula. Construction of the 20-story Harborcenter began in March 2013, the same month the Webster Block was purchased from the City of Buffalo for $2.2 million. The building was built by Mortenson Construction with ICON Venue Group serving as the project manager. The building's hockey rink portion topped out on June 25, 2014, as the last structural beam for the hotel was put into place. Building construction was completed on the whole building in August 2015. The rinks and restaurants opened on October 31 and November 6, 2014. The hotel opened on August 27, 2015.

Operations

Harborcenter was financed by

owner

Terry Pegula Terrence Michael Pegula (born March 27, 1951) is an American billionaire businessman and petroleum engineer. He is the owner of Pegula Sports and Entertainment which owns the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL) and, with his wife ...

and is owned by the Pegula's company Pegula Sports and Entertainment. The building contains indoor parking for 750 vehicles, and features two NHL regulation indoor ice rinks on the building's sixth floor, one with an 1,800-seat capacity and the other with a 150-seat capacity. IMPACT Sports Performance owned by the Pegulas operates Harborcenter's 5,000 square foot, high performance off-ice training facility located on the building's 6th floor. The building also contains a classroom and RapidShot Hockey Training System. The development is one of the most expensive for any privately funded single building in the city of Buffalo history. The project is designed to achieve

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

certification, with a goal of LEED Silver. The building was pledged by Pegula and others involved upon obtaining the property to open at the time by September 2014 making it one of the faster projects in the area. On September 10, 2019, Pegula Sports and Entertainment reached a 10-year naming rights agreement for the building with

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) is a private medical school in Erie, Pennsylvania, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Bradenton, Florida, DeFuniak Springs, Florida and Elmira, New York. Founded in 1992, LECOM confers medical (D.O.) ...

(LECOM).

Commercial tenants

The building contains a 205-room

hotel operated by Shaner Hotels, plus retail and restaurant space. A two floor 716 Food and Sport restaurant opened on October 31, 2014. Also, Harborcenter features a flagship

Tim Hortons Tim Hortons Inc., commonly nicknamed Tim's, or Timmie's is a Canadian multinational coffeehouse and restaurant chain. Based in Toronto, Tim Hortons serves coffee, doughnuts, and other fast-food items. It is Canada's largest quick-service res ...

that pays tribute to

Tim Horton Miles Gilbert "Tim" Horton (January 12, 1930 – February 21, 1974) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played 24 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Pitt ...

, the Buffalo Sabres, and the former

Buffalo Memorial Auditorium Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, colloquially known as The Aud, was a multipurpose indoor arena in downtown Buffalo, New York. Opened on October 14, 1940, it was home to the Canisius Golden Griffins ( NCAA), the Buffalo Bisons ( AHL), the Buffalo B ...

. The restaurant opened on October 30, 2014. A Statue of Tim Horton was dedicated across the street the same day. The building also contains a pro shop. The building also has storefronts along Main Street known as ''The Shops at HarborCanter'' for smaller street front tenants which are expected to be leased out. The first store that opened in Harborcenter was Red Siren, which is a women's specialty store. It features gifts, jewelry, leather and clothing not currently found in the Buffalo area. Red Siren opened in the Summer of 2015, around the time when the Mariott Harborcenter Hotel opened. Other stores include Modern Nostalgia, Fowler's Chocolates and Clayton's Toys & Gifts. It was announced in July 2016 that Modern Nostalgia would be leaving Harborcenter. They were replaced by Healthy Scratch, a quick-serve restaurant and boutique operated by Kelly and Jessica Pegula. Clayton's, Fowler's and Red Siren all announced their departure from Harborcenter in September 2017, with employees citing slow sales and inconsistent traffic for their departure. In May 2015, it was announced that Advanced Care Physical Therapy would lease space inside Impact Sports Performance, located inside the Harborcenter. This provides a complete range of sports medicine services to athletes and employees who use the facility.

Hockey tenants

The development's two ice rinks, known collectively as ''The Rinks'', is the home of the

, an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

college hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the g ...

program in Buffalo, as well as the

with the Griffins and Junior Sabres playing in the larger rink 1 known as ''KeyBank Rink at Harborcenter'' with separate dedicated dressing rooms. Rink 1 is also home to the Erie Community College Kats's of the

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

. The smaller rink 2 is known as ''New Wave Energy Rink'' under a separate naming rights deal. The Rinks are also the home to the Academy of Hockey and the Harborcenter Cup as well as serving as the Buffalo Sabres' practice facility. The rinks were opened on October 31, 2014 with the first of back to back games between Canisius and

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

which resulted in a 3–3 tie, and games involving the Buffalo Jr. Sabres 16U and 18U teams. Annually, on the weekend of

Veterans Day Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces (who were discharged under conditions other than dis ...

, the Buffalo Sabres Thunder, a special needs hockey team, hosts a tournament known as the Buffalo Fall Festival at The Rinks. In 2015, the NHL Scouting Combine was moved from Toronto to Harborcenter under a two-year pact. Buffalo also hosted the

NHL Entry Draft The NHL Entry Draft (french: Repêchage d'entrée dans la LNH) is an annual meeting in which every franchise of the National Hockey League (NHL) systematically select the rights to available ice hockey players who meet draft eligibility requirem ...

in 2016. The NHL subsequently announced that it would continue to hold the combine in Buffalo through at least 2019. The 2015 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships were held at Harborcenter. In January 2016, the venue hosted the inaugural

National Women's Hockey League The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), is a women's professional ice hockey league located in the United States and Canada. The league was established in 2015 with four league-owned teams and ha ...

all-star game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...

. In 2016, the CHA conference tournament in women's college hockey began to be hosted at Harborcenter. From June 22 to July 3, 2017, rink 1 hosted a charity event known as ''11 Day Power Play'', which set a world record for the longest continuous hockey game. It has since become an annual event at Harborcenter. The

2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships was the 42nd edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship, and was hosted by the city of Buffalo, New York at the KeyBank Center and HarborCenter. It opened on December 26, 2017 and closed with ...

were co-hosted by the KeyBank Rink and KeyBank Center. In September 2018, it was announced that the Atlantic Hockey Tournament, an

NCAA Division I Men's ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the g ...

league tournament would be moving to Harborcenter from Rochester's

Blue Cross Arena Blue Cross Arena, also known as the War Memorial, is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Rochester, New York. For hockey and lacrosse, its seating capacity is 10,662. The arena opened on October 18, 1955, as the Rochester Community War Memor ...

starting in 2019. The NHL Rookie Tournament is also hosted at HarborCenter

References

External links