Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens broke ground on its long-anticipated expansion and renovation project. The $31 million project will include much-needed visitor amenities to meet the demands of the community, further the organization’s mission, and provide generational growth and stability. It is anticipated to be completed in early 2027.
B-ROLL of the Governor at the groundbreaking for the Botanical Gardens is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).
VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).
AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.
PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Wow. First of all, this is a homecoming for me. No I mean, I was born right there — across the street. I was born at Our Lady of Victory Hospital, and this neighborhood is just part of my story. And as a little girl, I would take my naps when I was about three or four years old in my parents' bed, and on their dresser was a picture of their wedding right in front of this building.
So to me, this is always a magical place where mom and dad had their wedding pictures. And so as they brought us here as children, because when you grow up, and dad had worked at the steel plant down the road, the trailer park — still there, this is where you came for vacation, right? You didn't have a lot of money to go on fancy trips. You came here, you thought you were going to the tropics, you thought you were going to a desert.
I mean, you could use your imagination to just think of all the places around the world that you probably were never going to get to in person, but your mind was activated, and I know that dream is still there for so many people, and I want to thank the people who brought us here.
Erin Grajek, who's doing an extraordinary job as the President and CEO, I want to commend you for your leadership. It's a good day. Probably the only person happier than you, Erin, is your 10-year-old son, Miles, who got out of school today. Right, Miles? You must be really proud of your mom. Tisha Luciani, our Board Chair. Let's give her a round of applause as well.
And we have a very special guest here, traveled some distance. Our former CEO and President, Dave Swarts. If you do not know him, he has been gone a little while, not too long, but he spent a decade of his life as the Chairman and CEO of this institution. Before that, he had been in public life and we worked closely together. But literally, I think my first trip home, after going to Albany, after I became Governor, Dave wanted me to come here, sit in his office, look at some plans.
He showed me the plans, and I was hooked. And I knew that we could, with support from the State — which I would actually have a little more say over as the Governor — that we could make some real magic happen here. And so I was proud in April of 2022, my very first budget to announce significant funding to implement a vision here. So Dave, I want to give you a lot of credit for having the vision and the connections to be able to get this over the finish line. So welcome to you and Susan, your wife, who's been at your side for such a long time.
But it's also a chance to thank our elected officials. This is something that I know our County Executive is enormously proud of. This is also his hometown and a place that he gathered often as a child, and I want to thank Mark Poloncarz for the county stewardship for this great project. Our Mayor, Chris Scanlon, has joined us as well. Mayor Scanlon, thank you for being here and all your support for this.
The representatives of this area — the two elected officials of this particular property in Albany — Senator April Baskin, Assemblymember Pat Burke, thank you for getting your enormous support for this. Senator Sean Ryan, Assemblymember Jon Rivera, neighboring elected officials, but also this is a regional asset. This is for the entire region. Indeed it's an incredible jewel for the State of New York, and I'm proud to be here.
It's hard to think about this place, though, without recognizing the life and legacy of Mark Mortenson, who really just drove this so hard and would've liked nothing more I'm sure than to be here on this day. And our thoughts go out to him, his family and what a loss for all of us.
But also this is a place beloved by so many. And a $31 million investment signals that this community matters. And sometimes people who live here all their lives, they overlook how extraordinary this community is. This place — you have one of the most beautiful basilicas in the country right across the street, and we have to make Father Baker a saint someday. Right?
Can we keep that going, everybody? Please keep that going. So I put out there we have an American Pope. We're going to go have a little chat.
I know he knows where Lackawanna is on a map — that's a place that my dad — my mom went to school right there. My grandpa was the track coach at Father Baker. We always saw my uncles running around this beautiful property, and it's such a tight-knit community here.
And those who either live in Lackawanna, live in Western New York, or just true lovers of the extraordinary presentation of God's greatest gift to us — nature and plants and flowers right here. All of you are part of something quite extraordinary.
For 125 years — 125 years this place has been here. So people who came long before and people long after us, will take note of what we did when we were the stewards of this place.
Didn't just let it stay, but had to fix many of the deteriorating structures. The Conservatory is so beautiful now, and I remember the light shows we used to see before the pandemic struck. But a 120,000 square foot expansion so we can have a better gathering space and more programming for children and just welcome generations to come.
Not even kids born yet. It'll be coming to this place because we cared enough to make an investment and say, “This community matters. The botanical gardens matter, and the future for this community matters as well.” So I look at this, you welcome over a hundred thousand people every year. That's extraordinary.
We have many other assets in the state that don’t claim that many people who are drawn to this place of comfort and solace, especially when the weather's bad outside. I loved coming here during snowstorms with my kids, right? Let them walk around a little and pretend they're outside. And so this is always going to such a significant part of our community and it has an economic impact over $5 million. Don't underestimate that.
That's me every time I come to the gift shop. I walk out with all kinds of loot but I know we can double those numbers, right? We can hit 200,000. Why not, and I'll help promote this. The State of New York will help promote this even more. That's my commitment to you. And we can double the economic impact.
So right up there with places like Kleinhans, who we invested in, and Fort Niagara and the aquarium, and children's museums and other places this is part of what makes this place so incredibly special? So I just want to tell you, I'm so glad it worked out that I could be here for this celebration. As Marv Levy used to say, “Where would you rather be than right here, right now?” Right, Bills fans?
So this is a humbling experience for me to come back as Governor, as someone who's born over there, raised in this community. Treasure this institution and be able to help with $12 million from the state. So, congratulations to everyone involved. I cannot wait to come back.
December 18th, 2026. That's the day. That's the day I will proudly come back as your Governor to say we’ll be cutting the ribbon on the next chapter for the Botanical Gardens. So thank you everybody.