When the Rainbow Centre opened on July 4, 1982, the 282,000-square foot mall was hailed as the future of downtown Niagara Falls.
Unfortunately, that assessment proved all too true.
Promise after promise emanating from City Hall and Baltimore, Md., home to alleged mall operator David Cordish, proved empty. Little of the hoped-for spin-off development ever occurred. One of the jewels of Urban Renewal in the early 1980s, the Rainbow Centre turned into a tacky eyesore in little more than a decade, its descent coinciding with the city's slow economic death.
The steady outflow of tenants and slowing trickle of customers ultimately led to five years of near-vacancy. The decaying hulk becomes officially vacant on Saturday, Oct. 15, when Western Regional Off-Track Betting closes its betting parlor, the mall's last remaining retail business.
Cordish hasn't fulfilled the tenancy requirements of his lease with the city since early this century. The last retail business other than OTB under the Rainbow Centre's roof wasn't in the mall itself, but an international restaurant with an entrance on Rainbow Boulevard. The restaurant went out of business last month, mysteriously catching fire a few hours after closing its doors for the last time.
The lease also requires Cordish to "operate the mall in a first-class quality," something he clearly hasn't done for the last five years.
Despite the clear breach of the lease, city officials gave Cordish a pass because they vainly hoped he'd turn downtown Niagara Falls into Baltimore's waterfront -- a revitalization for which he takes credit at every opportunity -- or at least live up to the promise made by signs posted on the building's entrances when the last retail outlets closed in 2000.
"Rainbow Centre Factory Outlet is closing its doors Sept. 30th to begin renovations to convert to a family entertainment complex," the signs read.
Not only did no such "renovations" ever take place, Cordish hasn't even bothered with routine maintenance. Water cascades through the badly decayed roof every time it rains. Sources familiar with conditions inside indicate exposure to another winter could damage the mall floors and walls beyond repair.
Still, Cordish has the gall to boast about his work in Niagara Falls on his Web site, including a glowing quote from the late Mayor Michael O'Laughlin, who occupied the big office at City Hall when the Rainbow Centre opened.
"The Cordish Company honored every commitment they made to us, written or otherwise, and their development spawned a number of new projects around Rainbow Centre," O'Laughlin is quoted as saying.
Of course, the longtime mayor had an interesting relationship with reality at times, telling angry LaSalle homeowners during the Love Canal environmental disaster that "there is no problem here."
But O'Laughlin wouldn't be the last Niagara Falls mayor to fall under Cordish's spell. Jake Palillo, James Galie, Irene Elia and Vincenzo V. Anello were likewise seduced. In fact, Elia went so far as to proclaim Cordish as the city's "preferred developer," even as he evicted the last few retail shops from Rainbow Centre and shuttered it in September 2000.
Despite revelations that Cordish fell behind on the tax bill for the facility to the tune of $186,000, Elia remained steadfast. The bill was paid following a Reporter expose.
The Cordish public relations machine then began issuing press releases announcing the facility would be reborn. The "family entertainment complex" model morphed variously into an "upscale adult entertainment venue," a "multiplex movie theater" or even a "giant nightclub," depending on what day of the week it was.
In the meantime, Cordish was secretly lobbying Albany politicians and the Seneca Nation of Indians to take the mall off his hands for use as a casino. In 2001, the Cordish Co. and Elia outraged Seneca leaders with an announcement revealing the negotiations, this time saying that Rainbow Centre would likely be transformed into a high stakes bingo parlor run by the Senecas. When tribal leaders ended up opening the casino at the former convention center, they grudgingly agreed to rent a portion of the deserted mall for use as warehouse space.
Cordish's last project here, an $8.5 million glorified souvenir stand known as the "Theater in the Mist," opened with great fanfare in August 2003. Of that $8.5 million, around $2 million was ponied up by the taxpayers of the state of New York.
At the grand opening, state Sen. George Maziarz was heard to remark that, if the place had actually cost $8.5 million, he would perform an unsavory act in the window of a popular Niagara Street restaurant.
It's a 40-seat theater with a screen about as large as some of the latest-generation plasma TVs. To get in or out of it, you have to walk through the souvenir store, which some say is the largest in all Niagara.
By March of 2004, Cordish had a new sucker, er, mayor to deal with in Anello. In yet another breathless announcement, City Administrator Daniel Bristol said the mayor was "optimistic" about a Cordish plan to build a brand new entertainment complex on a half-acre of vacant land adjacent to the Great American Balloon Ride attraction across the street from the derelict mall.
To date, nothing has come of the plan.
Likewise, well-publicized Cordish plans to revitalize the High Falls district in Rochester and the Buffalo waterfront haven't lived up to the hype or haven't happened at all.
And Cordish remains at the center of a federal investigation regarding the role of one of his companies, Power Plant Entertainment, in financing and building the Hard Rock Casino and Resort for the Seminole Nation of Indians in Florida.
The company negotiated a "financial services contract," which would allow the company to invest in and receive returns from the casino but avoid management contract provisions that would require federal oversight. As part of the contract, Power Plant obtained subsidized financing for the tribe through a $389 million tax-exempt bond issued by Capital Trust Agency, a municipal authority based in Florida.
The deal calls for the Cordish Co. to be paid $1.3 billion over the next decade, nearly 30 percent of the casino's net revenue.
In December 2004, following a seven-month investigation, the IRS issued a preliminary determination that the tax-exempt financing of the two Seminole casinos developed by Power Plant Entertainment was improper. A broader IRS investigation of Power Plant's additional developer and financing fees paid by the tribe is reportedly ongoing.
Legislators in Albany learned of the investigation in April, following testimony regarding the Wisconsin Oneida Tribe's proposal to build a casino in Sullivan County. According to George Keller, president of the United South and Eastern Tribes, the Cordish Co. has been retained by the Wisconsin Oneida to "reservation shop" in New York State, where the tribe hopes to open a casino more than 1,000 miles away from its home reservation.
"These efforts are being funded by shadowy developers who underwrite the litigation expenses, lobbyist fees, and even the cost of land in exchange for a cut of the profits," he said. "Indian gaming is supposed to benefit Indian tribes on their own lands. It is not supposed to make Indian tribes pawns in hands of developers with dubious professional experience who want to move Indian governments around the country to establish casinos in states where these tribes do not now exist."
Meanwhile, a massive city-owned structure sits empty in downtown Niagara Falls, steadily rotting, with the world-famous cataracts a few hundred feet away.
Cordish has made it painfully clear that his company has no plans for the facility beyond continuing to squat on some of the most valuable, and important, property in Niagara Falls. Anello loves to talk about "getting tough" with developers, yet Cordish somehow maintains the most-favored status he enjoyed under O'Laughlin, Palillo, Galie and Elia.
If Anello really wants to show how tough he is in a meaningful way, kicking Cordish out of town would be an excellent start.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Oct. 11 2005 |