Seneca One Tower is a skyscraper located in downtown Buffalo, New York. The building was formerly known as One HSBC Center and prior to that, as Marine Midland Center, its name was changed in 1999 shortly after Marine Midland's parent company HSBC re-branded the bank as HSBC Bank USA. The building was constructed at a cost of $50 million between 1969 and 1974, and contains over of space. Today, the 40 story building still dominates the Buffalo skyline, at high. It is an example of modern architecture. The building's design is similar to that of the 33 South Sixth building in Minneapolis. Currently, the first five floors are undergoing a $100 million renovation by Douglas Development, set to be complete in five years.
The tower was the world headquarters of Marine Midland until 1998, and served as the headquarters of HSBC USA until 1999, when it moved its U. S. headquarters to New York City.
On a clear day, Seneca One Tower can be seen from away along the New York State Thruway. Due to the large number of railroad overpasses in Erie County, the skyscraper can also be seen from many vantage points along Harlem Road, Union Road, the 400 expressway, areas nearby New Era Field, and the Grand Island bridges along the Niagara section of the Thruway. It can also be seen looking west from Route 77 in Bennington and Attica, near the windmills. The building can also be seen from the Fallsview hotels on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.
On December 5, 2012, HSBC Bank USA announced that they would vacate the space it leased in the tower by the time their lease expires in October 2013. Paired with the departure of Phillips Lytle LLP, and the recent closing of the Canadian Consulate, the tower was 90 percent vacant as of 2014. In August 2016, it was announced that Washington, D.C. based Douglas Development will buy One Seneca tower. On September 29, 2016, Buffalo Business First reported that Douglas Jemal of Washington, D.C. had completed the purchase of One Seneca Tower and an adjacent parking ramp with plans to redevelop the tower and plaza into a mixed-use complex including retail, restaurant, hotel, office and apartment components. In June 2019, M&T Bank announced it would occupy 15 of the tower's floors as the bank's "technology hub." The building gained a paint scheme of terra cotta and gunmetal in 2020.
