As construction of the new Seneca Indian Casino proceeds apace, developers, hotel owners and entrepreneurs have been scrambling to outdo each other in anticipation of the expected bonanza to come.
Near the intersection of Rainbow Boulevard and John B. Daly Boulevard, a tourist information booth and convenience store seemingly sprang up overnight and, at the corner of Third Street and Buffalo Avenue, a portable and as-yet-unopened kiosk magically appeared.
But those projects are small beer compared to some of the many projects announced since the Senecas began construction at the former convention center last summer.
They include:
Plans call for the Como Palace hotel to consist of 500 luxury suites as well as a 100,000-square-foot expo center.
State Sen. George Maziarz and Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte have endorsed the proposal. Approval for the project would have to be obtained from the NFTA, the state's USA Niagara Development Corp. and the city.
"We've been thinking about doing a hotel here for 10 years," said Dominick Colucci. "We still have 13 years on our lease, so we're going to be here awhile regardless what happens."
Real estate sources told the Reporter that G & A, whose address is listed as 2293 Saunders Settlement Road, is a company set up by "Smokin" Joe Anderson.
Anderson, a Tuscarora, sits at the head of an Indian tobacco and gasoline empire that has made him a millionaire many times over.
"Joe always said he wouldn't invest in the Falls unless he was sure something was going to happen here," a source said. "If they were going to be selling tobacco products on the new Seneca land, it would be a lot easier for them to just pick it up on Hyde Park Boulevard than driving all the way to Sanborn."
Paladino told reporters the $5.2 million project calls for the creation of 10,000 feet of upscale commercial space on the building's first three floors, while 27 luxury condominiums would occupy the upper 17 stories.
The deal cost the city at least $675,000, the amount of an old federal Housing and Urban Development grant that was used to gut the building's interior back when plans called for the construction of low-to-moderate income housing there.
The city gave the building to Paladino's company, Ellicott Development, for $1.
A Dec. 12 closing date is expected on the deal, in which NFR will pay a reported $3 million for the property. An earlier closing was held up by a lawsuit dismissed as frivolous in state Supreme Court.
Consisting of a 175,000-square-foot warehouse connected to a manufacturing and office complex that could be turned into a mixed-use meeting room and retail facility, the building was vacated earlier this year when its owner, Kraft Foods, decided to relocate.
"It's like it was built to be a convention center," said one source in the hospitality industry. "You could start booking events next month."
Plans call for a 400-room, high-end facility featuring upscale rooms and suites, Villela said. As with some of the other proposals, plans call for one floor of retail shopping, one floor dedicated to conventions and another featuring bar, restaurant and banquet facilities.
Villela said he hopes to have the new hotel open in about a year.
Gracechristi spokesman Michael Lecours said his company was prepared to spend $14.6 million renovating the hotel with luxury suites and time share units.
Prozeralik, meanwhile, said he would use the money from the deal to spend $4 million on renovations at the 138-room Inn on the River.
He has been in negotiations with representatives of the prestigious Clarion hotel chain to position the Inn as the city's only four-star hotel, he said.
Combined with the recent opening of the new Niagara Aerospace Museum by Niagara Office Building owner Frank Amendola, and David Cordish's announced plans to reopen his Rainbow Centre Mall as an I-Max theater, the various hotel, real estate and other projects seem to indicate that previously recalcitrant developers are moving ahead.
Some cynics aren't so sure.
"This has more to do with the fact that a lot of these properties are located in the footprint set up by the state for eminent domain," one said. "By announcing these plans and spending a few dollars, they're dramatically increasing what the state's going to have to pay.
"The state grabbed a rattlesnake by the tail on this and now they don't know what to do with it," he added. "It could very well turn around and bite them."
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | November 19 2002 |