The impact of the new Buffalo Bills stadium on it's neighborhood in Orchard Park
From the The final stretch: The journey to a new Buffalo Bills stadium series
Construction of the new Highmark Stadium has had an impact on its surrounding area, from the closing of longtime businesses, to a rise in property values, to congested traffic and parking for Bills games.
(7) updates to this series since Updated
While it may be most important to some Buffalo Bills fans that the new stadium project will keep the team in Buffalo, the true impact could be just how many people it has put to work.
Orchard Park has moved to make zoning around the Buffalo Bills new stadium more business friendly, and developers have begun responding by expressing interest in potential projects in the area.
Before the Orchard Park Town Board passed a resolution approving new zoning districts – the most critical one on Southwestern Boulevard around the new stadium, around 20 residents spoke in opposition to the plan during a public hearing. But board members stressed that no immediate changes are coming to the area and they reminded residents that developers still must go through the planning and zoning processes to make sure any plans for development are befitting the town and part of its comprehensive plan.
Longtime Orchard Park resident Eric Matwijow now has one of the best seats in the house to watch the construction of the new stadium, without being on the site itself. His popular tailgate spot Hammer’s Lot on Abbott Road encroaches the project to the south at the backend of the new stadium, where an auxiliary and technology building is going up.
Two more properties neighboring the new Buffalo Bills stadium are on sale for at least a million dollars and these have the potential for commercial development before the Town of Orchard Park makes any zoning changes in the area.
After what owners Ardwin and Cherie Carducci estimate were 3,000 weddings and multiple generations of communions, holiday parties and funeral breakfasts, the venue hosted its last event earlier this month.
There may be some confusion about parking, with construction of the new stadium taking up the lot where RVs, Bills staff, buses and limousines parked.
In this Series
The final stretch: The journey to a new Buffalo Bills stadium
The Buffalo Bills franchise has entered the final stretch in the construction of the new Highmark Stadium. Read about the developments here.
With Sunday being the final home opener for the Buffalo Bills at the current Highmark Stadium and more than 1,000 fewer spaces to park in due to new stadium construction, it made for a day of heavy traffic, especially earlier on, and a bit of confusion over where to park leading up to the Sunday night game. But fans found spaces, even if they weren’t in the places they’ve been used to parking.
