Must be nice when you can build a new stadium which is one of the absolute jewels of the National Football League. Then your team wins a boatload of Super Bowl trophies. Now the Gillette Stadium neighborhood is undergoing a vast transformation of its own.

Since the old days when the old Schaefer Stadium was first built out in Foxboro, this has pretty much been cornfields, empty land up and down US 1, with one way in and one way out. While US 1 is a much wider boulevard today, right next to Gillette a new shopping center makes its debut this month, anchored by (insert your fruitcake shriek here Tim Tielman) Bass Pro.

But there’s much much more on the way - Phase 2 of this project will see a new “lifestyles center” in another section of the stadium property as Patriot Place, a mixed use hotel, movie theatre, office and retail center, begins to take shape for a planned 2008 opening.

While the hot discussion here in Buffalo in recent days centers on a new waterfront/downtown stadium, is it farfetched to envision a total (not cosmetic) makeover of The Ralph? Add retail, housing, mixed uses, and serve the neighborhood with both a light rail extension to downtown, as well as a high speed rail corridor to transport patrons from Canada and points east. This sort of concept could turn the corner for saving the football team in Western New York.

Thanks to Keller for sending this along.

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