The new Amtrak station for downtown, as well as a hub for light rail and possibly bus service, could cost between $18 million and $20 million, said Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo.
The total price for the project had been closer to $10 million as recently as last year.
"It's without question more money than originally estimated," Hoyt said. "I have every confidence (that), through the federal and state governments, we will be able to identify the additional funds."
Buffalo officials are still waiting to hear from Greyhound Lines whether it will commit to moving its Buffalo operations to the multi-use transportation terminal, but they expect a decision soon.
Greyhound now serves some 500 customers a day from the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority's Ellicott Street terminal, formally known as the Metropolitan Transportation Center.
The Masiello administration envisions Greyhound buses as a key component of the multi-use terminal, whether located at the Memorial Auditorium or an alternative location.
Joseph N. Giambra, the city's public works commissioner, recently met with Greyhound officials and assured them the project is on track.
"In my conversation with them, I said this project is going to happen," Giambra said. "There's already more than $8 million there. I don't know how much I'll need, but I've been assured (that however) much I need, we'll have."
Giambra said he could not come up with a cost estimate.
"We don't know everything that's going to go in there," he said, "and we haven't officially picked the site."
Memorial Auditorium emerged as a favorite choice for early backers, but city officials have considered several alternatives during their environmental review:
Building a new home for the downtown Amtrak station at its current Exchange Street location, rather than construct a facility on a different site.
Demolishing the General Donovan State Office Building, located next to the Aud, and building a terminal as part of a mixed-used plan.
Developing the project at the Aud while also demolishing the Dovovan building and using a part of the parcel for the project.
One reason the project might cost more is because of a new idea to park inter-city buses in the Aud's basement - if that's the chosen location - rather than outside the building.
Decisions that will shape the project's appearance and location should be made in the first few months of 2001, Giambra said.
The most optimistic view has the project finished in two years. It could take a year or two longer if the Donovan site is chosen, he said.
Some backers of the project had worried that Greyhound could feel pressured into signing a long-term contract with the NFTA to stay at its existing terminal once its current deal expires. But a top NFTA official said the authority is willing to work out an interim deal with Greyhound that would allow the bus line to stay at the existing terminal until the new multi-use facility is finished - but not any longer than the bus line wants.
Such an agreement is important because the new terminal will not be finished before Greyhound's existing contract expires.
What's more, the NFTA wants to spend $8 million to spruce up its Ellicott Street terminal, and that has Hoyt worried the NFTA might lobby to keep Greyhound right where it is.
That would detract from the multi-use terminal, but Giambra said the project will go forward with or without Greyhound.
"The decision (about where to operate from) is clearly Greyhound's, and we haven't tried to influence Greyhound one way or the other," said Lawrence M. Meckler, the NFTA's executive director.
"If they decide to relocate, we will definitely try to accommodate them in the interim, even after the contract expires," Meckler said. "We're not going to force them to sign another 25-year contract. We would work with them to make it as smooth a transition as possible," through a negotiated extension, he said.
The Ellicott Street terminal's renovation would occur even without Greyhound on the site, Meckler said. The NFTA would just adopt a different design. About 2,500 Metro Bus passengers board and exit local buses near the Ellicott Street terminal, and most now wait outside the NFTA terminal so they don't miss their bus.
These are the people - and others who are downtown - whom the NFTA wants to attract inside the terminal to shop or eat, Meckler said.
Greyhound executives were not available to comment.
Hoyt said he's pleased by Meckler's assurance.
"I think that's fantastic," Hoyt said. "The NFTA is doing the right thing, and it's exactly the news Greyhound is looking for."
Hoyt has written the bus line's executives to assure them the project is viable.
The federal government has agreed previously to provide $9.1 million for the proposed transportation center for Amtrak trains, buses and light rail. Hoyt said more than $10 million overall has already been secured.
"While there may be uncertainty at this point in time as to when the new facility will be completed and open for business, there is no doubt in anyone's mind that it will be completed," Hoyt wrote Greyhound officials in a Dec. 20 letter.