M&T Bank sees new Seneca One offices as tech “beacon”
M&T Bank’s presence inside Seneca One tower will be eye-catching to motorists.
Along with 11 floors in the tower itself for its “tech hub,” the bank will fill two floors in the building’s pedestal with “tremendous ceiling height,” said Keith Belanger, the bank’s senior vice president for corporate services.
“It’s part of the show,” Belanger said to a Buffalo Urban Development Corp. committee. “When you’re driving down the 190 and you see it complete and it’s nighttime and it’s lit, it’s going to be a beacon for really cool tech space in Buffalo.”
All along, M&T has said it wants the tech hub to act as a magnet for technology-focused companies to join the bank as fellow tenants. The bank wants to make the place a focal point for creativity and innovation.
While the vast majority of M&T’s employees are working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the bank has remained committed to following through on the tech hub. The bank’s project is the driving force behind developer Douglas Jemal’s revival of Buffalo’s tallest building.
Belanger said M&T has come up with a workplace format inside Seneca One tower that will keep workers safely distanced once they begin moving in, using a “checkerboard pattern” of work stations.
That approach will reduce capacity by roughly half in the short term. “We got comfortable with that because we’ve proven in the last four to five months that 100% of this team can work remotely and get the job done,” Belanger said.
Before the pandemic hit, the bank was planning to move employees into the renovated facility by the middle of this year. Instead, most M&T employees are continuing to work from home.
To prepare for how it will use the Seneca One space, M&T has been testing workplace layouts at another of its locations, at Lafayette Court on Main Street, Belanger said.
M&T has hired about 500 people for its technology team in the past 18 months, he said. The bank recently started the second class of its Technology Development Program, which places new hires in a two-year, focused training program.
Matt Glynn
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Signs of the times at Seneca One tower
Owner Douglas Jemal’s company is planning to put up 17 new illuminated signs – with letters or logos – on the sides of the tower, its annex buildings, its footbridges and exterior plaza walls.