No Accountability from City, State on Hamister Hotel Delays

Will Mark Hamister ever build a hotel?

Just for the record, wealthy Buffalo developer Mark Hamister is getting plenty of taxpayer help to help build a $37.4 million hotel in downtown Niagara Falls that is apparently still a work-in-progress two years after the City Council—after a bitter debate—voted 3 to 2 to virtually gift the valuable parcel to Hamister for a mere $100,000, a fraction of its assessed value.

It appears that $3.85 million from the state and $4.25 million in tax breaks courtesy of the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency, along with the $100,000 property “gift,” have not been enough public help to get the project started despite all the hype about what is now a downgraded business traveler’s hotel being perhaps the most important thing to hit Niagara Falls short of the falls themselves, something Mayor Paul Dyster said during the bitter debate was the transformational project needed to save downtown.

Now, two years after that “transformational” vote and many delays on the part of the developer as he scaled back to a smaller project, there are no shovels in the ground at the 310 Rainbow Blvd. site even though the city settled a lawsuit in late July with the former tenant, JD Gifts, for $45,000, courtesy of USA Niagara, the state’s development agency in Niagara Falls.  The last obstacle to a building start followed soon after, on Aug. 14, when attorneys for JD Gifts received notice that the deed for the parcel had been transferred to HH310LLC.

But still, there are no shovels in the ground at the small parcel even though the structures on the former parking lot site were taken down by city workers to make room for the Hamister Hyatt Place which is nowhere in sight.

True to form, Sam Hoyt and Empire State Development, the governor’s chief economic development agency, have nothing to say about what’s going on with the “transformational” project that is receiving more than $8 million in subsidies from taxpayers.

Hoyt, regional vice president for Empire State and a close ally of the governor, personally attended that Niagara Falls council vote two years ago, lobbying hard for passage of the land “gift” to clear the way for Hamister to proceed.  But again, true to form, Hoyt has been invisible ever since and did not respond to an email request seeking an update on the project even though the state is giving away millions of tax dollars to the politically connected Hamister for the project.

Also, true to form, Mayor Paul Dyster could not be reached to explain the latest apparent snag in perhaps the most hyped project in Niagara Falls history that our sources say is because Hamister, amazingly after all this time and hype, hasn’t got the financing in place yet to move forward.

Council President Andrew Touma, who won election in 2013 after Sam Fruscione blew himself help by daring to seek more information on the Hamister project before the land giveaway, informs us that the mayor said “there was no update,” and that’s that.  Now Touma has in many ways been a breath of fresh air in Niagara Falls, and I believe he has the city’s best interests at heart.  But it appears he is totally in the dark on what’s going on with this big project, and that’s unfortunate.  For the record, the public is also completely in the dark and that may be one reason Dyster barely won the Democratic primary last month.

It would be hard to imagine that if there was something good to say about the Hamister project, Dyster wouldn’t be out there with it as he faces what could be a stiff contest to win a third term next month against Republican John Accardo.  Maybe he’s hoping for a miracle before the election, otherwise Accardo should be pounding home the message about the total lack of transparency in the Dyster administration, whether with city finances, frozen pipes, casino cash, or the Hamister fiasco that has been a circus that won’t go away.

The sad reality here is that the city and the state can operate behind closed doors and give away tax dollars without any accountability.  Citizens should be rightly outraged about the lack of accountability on how their money is being spent.  Paul Dyster and Sam Hoyt are the poster boys for operating in the back rooms, wheeling and dealing behind closed doors, and letting the public be damned when it comes to how their money is being spent.