Falls’ City of Many Groundbreakings Little Actual Building, Development

Gov. George Pataki came to Niagara Falls to announce the fabulous AquaFalls project. What we were promised. What the developers accomplished.

 

One thing about a good old fashioned groundbreaking, like a barn burning or any other public event, is that it brings to mind the glorious similar events we’ve attended in the past.

In Niagara Falls, of course, things are a bit different than what we see in other parts of the country. Here, groundbreaking ceremonies are often held for things that never get built, or things that do get built but then are subsequently torn down.

In the former category, who can forget AquaFalls?

What’s that? You’ve forgotten it? How could you forget one of the most transformational tourist district development projects in the city’s history?

Developers Gilles Assouline and David Ho proposed building a huge underground aquarium here in what is now the parking lot of the One Niagara Building, at the intersection of Niagara Street and Rainbow Boulevard.

Mayor Jimmy Galie was there in July 1999, gold plated shovel in hand, along with the then seven-member city Council and various state officials for what was to be a truly transformational groundbreaking experience. It was so transformational that it transformed the occupant of the mayor’s office from Galie to former nun Irene Elia!

The project was described as an oceanographic experience that would be like no other. Spectators would be permitted to view the sea from a "beach" on the first floor to the "sea bottom" some 45 feet below, through a series of glass tunnels.

From the start, things went badly. After digging a hole the size of a city block down to a depth of more than 40 feet, and using dynamite to blast through ancient bed rock, the developers ran out of money and work just stopped.

Galie had pinned his reelection hopes on the project in 1999 and was soundly defeated. Frank Parlato, now publisher of the Niagara Falls Reporter, acquired the property in 2004, by which time erosion around the giant hole in the ground was eating nearby sidewalks, and, the next year, filled it in and turned it into a parking lot.

He found one of the gold shovels, perhaps the very one used by Galie, in an abandoned office at the old Occidental Petroleum Building, which he reopened as the One Niagara Center. He keeps it, he says, in case he ever gets a dog and needs something to clean the yard with.

In 2000, Irene Elia took office and set about developing a pocket park on Main Street. She proved to be a pioneer of breaking ground on projects that actually did get built but were then torn down a few short years later.

“Trolley Park,” as it was called, was fashioned out of a couple vacant lots between Cleveland and South avenues in one of the city’s least savory districts at a cost to the taxpayers of around $200,000. The gold shovel groundbreaking, and the subsequent opening of the park in 2003, provided photo opportunities for Elia and her staunchest ally on the city Council, Paul Dyster.

When construction of the new city courthouse began in 2008, the park was obliterated.

Elia held another gold shovel groundbreaking event for Lou Antonucci’s flat as a pancake putter golf course, ironically located near the same lot where Dyster has now proposed putting the so far illusory Hamister hotel project. The little played course lasted briefly.

Back in the late 1990’s the city entered into a deal with developer David Cordish and donated to him the lot that the so far illusory Hamister hotel project is to be built in return for his building a world-class tourist attraction.

He never built anything but permitted a couple of entrepreneurs to install a helium tethered balloon ride which lasted a few seasons before the wind and the loss of helium sidelined the attraction.

Cordish gave the lot back to the city.

You don’t have to be a politician to catch a case of gold shovel fever in Niagara Falls, just ask the brain trust at Niagara Falls Redevelopment.

“A ceremonial shovel will turn the sod outside the former "Turtle" Native American center to mark the beginning of the restoration of the vacant building into a cultural and entertainment complex,” a news release issued in 2000 stated.

Niagara Falls Redevelopment Executive Vice President Roger Trevino, said sightseers will be able to enjoy a Native American museum, partly sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution, by the beginning of the 2002 tourist season.

"We see this groundbreaking ceremony as a celebration to bring the community together as we move forward in our development plans," Trevino told reporters at the time.

"We are very excited about the future prospects for this facility and its potential for Niagara Falls," said Anthony Bergamo, NFR's chief executive officer.

The Turtle – 15 years later- still remains vacant.

But like so many other proposed projects, mad plans and goofy ideas in Niagara Falls, the museum never materialized.

Some of the other ideas proposed in recent years: 

A 144 foot statue of Genghis Khan and a Mongolian museum.

A “Rotel” which is a hotel that spins in a circle.

An 1890’s shopping street – courtesy James Glynn.

Jean Guido’s Hawaiian Village which was to be built behind the convention center.

Then who can forget the fabulous promise of the Falls Street Faire and Falls Street Station which John Bartolomei developed which wound up being downgraded into a couple of kiddie rides, a penny arcade and some popcorn stands. 

There was Jake Palilo’s entertainment district along Main St.

Lee Simonson wining and dining.

Ghermezian brothers for a Mall of America. 

The Oz project which at one time threatened to have a component in the Falls.

A Karate museum.

A Wallenda attraction which Mayor Paul Dyster fought tooth and nail to kill – one of his few successes. Wallenda veered out of the Falls and went to Darien Lake.

USA Niagara had a grand idea for horse rides and repelling down in the gorge.

The Niagara Experience Center, Wonderfalls, the Hamister hotel. Will any of them ever actually be built?

Magic 8 Ball says…..