Other than the Seneca Nation of Indians, there haven't been too many high-rollers in town lately. Niagara Falls Redevelopment, which has come under much fire from the failing administration of Mayor Irene Elia, is an exception.
Pumping in excess of $20 million into the local economy since 1997, the group last week closed on the former Nabisco plant and warehouse in a $3.5 million purchase that now makes New York billionaire Howard Milstein the major player in private development downtown.
While the Baltimore do-nothing and Elia favorite David Cordish sits on his hands with the abandoned Rainbow Centre Mall, and local developer Harry Williams is content to continue receiving tax, water and sewer benefits for the eyesore hole he dug in the ground on Niagara Street, which he said was going to be the site of a new aquarium, the much-maligned Milstein has put his money where his mouth is.
Last year, the Niagara Falls Hoteliers Association picked the Nabisco property as the perfect place to house a new convention center. With its 375,000 square feet of floor space, truck bays, 22-foot ceilings and adjacent railroad spur, it seemed like a logical choice.
Regional politics intervened, however, and the much smaller, incredibly dilapidated Falls Street Faire got the nod, not so much because it was a good place as to allow the Buffalo interests to continue with their plans to erect a mega-convention center on the waterfront down in Buffalo. Niagara Falls Redevelopment Vice President Roger Trevino spoke to the issue.
"We did originally identify the Nabisco property as a gateway to the falls," he said. "But there were 200 people working over there, and we didn't want to make a problem for them."
When Kraft Foods closed the Nabisco Plant, laying off more than 200 workers, the redevelopment outfit saw the opportunity to create even more jobs.
Trevino said that NFR is involved in numerous discussions with various interests concerning the property.
"I would say that, however many jobs were lost by Nabisco at the end, more jobs will be created with what's going to happen there," he said.
The six Nabisco storage silos, each six stories high, are among the few landmarks visible from the Canadian side of the Niagara River. Formerly the Shredded Wheat plant here, they figured prominently in the 1953 film, "Niagara," with Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten.
Trevino says those silos are an invitation.
"Other than the United Office Building, the Nabisco silos are the only structure clearly visible from the Canadian side," he said. "There's a very definite value there."
Niagara Falls Redevelopment bought the Turtle building outright for around $3 million and then invested approximately $1 million into the United Office Building before returning it to the city so some Buffalo developer could buy it for $1.
But Trevino isn't bitter.
"This is the time when everybody needs to work together for the common good," he said. Niagara Falls Redevelopment's earliest plans identified problems the city is now experiencing, particularly in regard to parking.
"Not for nothing, but this came out in the overall plan from six years ago," Trevino said.
There are plenty of things that could be done with the Nabisco property, he added.
"We're in discussions with a number of individuals," he said. "We'll see what happens."
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | April 22 2003 |