Maziarz Says Parcel 4 Still Tops List for Wallenda Project

It’s how we do things here, why we’re broke and over taxed: Nik Wallenda (pictured with Sen. George Maziarz [left] and Assemblyman John Ceretto [center]) wants to develop a genuine attraction in Niagara Falls and with his own money. But Mayor Paul Dyster and USA Niagara, a state agency, make it hard for him. On the other hand, Buffalo developer, Mark Hamister wants a load of taxpayer money and an outright gift of multi-million dollar parcel 4 to build a hotel which the city does not need. Hamister is a big contributor to Governor Andrew Cuomo.  In short, they are pushing for a corporate welfare deal over real development by a world famous figure. It’s crazy, but true.

ARE YOU NUTS? This is valuable property; you don’t have to give it away, or pay someone to develop it. “A” (above) is Parcel 4, located only 300 feet from the Niagara Falls State Park, at 310 Rainbow Blvd. It is the perfect site for Wallenda’s attraction, at least temporarily. It is currently the proposed site of a corporate welfare, reward- of-special-interests hotel development. B: Niagara Falls State Park (parking lot). C: Niagara Falls, Ontario. D: One Niagara and parking lot. E: Rainbow Bridge. F: Old Falls Street. G: Rainbow Blvd.   Parcel 4 is one of the most valuable properties in Western New York. It is owned by the people and Dyster and USA Niagara want to give it away to developer, Mark Hamister, who happened to contribute heavily to the governor’s campaign. Now that’s what we call return on investment!

This undistinguished, small hotel is what USA Niagara and Dyster want pay Hamister to build on one of the most valuable locations in Niagara Falls. They want taxpayers to pay for it and give the millionaire Hamister in effect a nearly free hotel on free land. You have to wonder what’s wrong  with them.

Hamister

With still no word on whether the much-hyped Hamister development at 310 Rainbow.Blvd. is going forward, State Sen. George Maziarz says the property known as “Parcel 4” remains at the top of the list for the temporary entertainment center envisioned by Nik Wallenda and his family on the American side of the falls.

“The [Wallenda] family is continuing to look at property on both sides,” said Maziarz, who added that Nik Wallenda has received letters of invitation from Niagara Falls, Ont., Mayor Jim Diodati to develop his entertainment center on the Canadian side.

Diodati and Wallenda formed a close relationship prior to Wallenda’s historic tightrope walk across the Niagara Gorge last June 15.

But while the search for the ideal spot goes on, Maziarz, who says he has received no response from city and state officials on the status of the proposed $22.4 million Hamister mixed-use development, said Parcel 4 meets all the requirements of space, height and proximity to the state park for the Wallenda project.

Maziarz remains “suspicious” about the funding for the Hamister project, which is expected to require a major subsidy of public money to go forward. When Empire State Development, USA Niagara, and the City of Niagara Falls announced selection of the Hamister Group of Buffalo as developer of the prime downtown parcel last February, there was much fanfare and predictions that construction would start in 2013. Since that time, the state agencies and the city have said very little about where the project stands.

Meanwhile, reports surfaced last week that the Hamister Group is leading the way on a $40 million revitalization of the Tishman Building in Buffalo into a 123-room hotel development, with the firm brushing aside concerns that such a development will cause the Buffalo hotel marked to become oversaturated. Similar concerns have been raised about the Niagara Falls hotel market with the proposed Hamister development on Parcel 4 a selection that was made in secret by Sam Hoyt, regional president of Empire State Development; Chris Schoepflin, president of USA Niagara, a subsidiary of Empire State Development; and Mayor Paul Dyster.

When contacted by this newspaper in July, Hoyt said there was still no agreement with Hamister on the project, but that talks were continuing. He denied there were concerns about the funding package, although he declined to identify the size of the public subsidy that would be required. Schoepflin, a highly-paid public official, refuses to return phone calls made to USA Niagara.

Maziarz says if his suspicions are true about the project being stalled over money, it makes sense to use the Parcel 4 site for the Wallenda entertainment center, at least temporarily. Wallenda remains a hugely popular figure who brought world fame to the area this past summer with his historic wire walk across the falls.

Maziarz says he has received nothing but positive feedback from the public about using the site for the Wallenda center since he first aired that idea last week in the Niagara Falls Reporter.