Hamister Has Building Permit, Still Seeking Financing

Here is an aerial view of the Tippin Point development (?) We scunched in the Hamister hotel just like it will be in real life. There she blows --- at the tip end of the arrow - the tipping point! Constantly getting smaller yet allegedly costing more....

 

 Now that the Hamister Group has obtained a building permit for 310 Rainbow Blvd. from Niagara Falls City Hall, can a ground breaking be imminent?

Well, it would seem so barring another last-minute surprise which is more than a little possible given the history of the “life-saving” Hamister hotel that was billed by city and state officials as the project that will save downtown, nothing short of a “transformational” hotel tower, according to Mayor Paul Dyster.  Of course, that was four years ago and before it was scaled back to a Hyatt Place from the original grandiose design that had everything and then some.

But as we reported last week, there are still questions about private (i.e. Hamister money) financing even for the scaled-down 128-room Hyatt Place the cost of which has ballooned to nearly $36 million from the original tag of $27 million.  Go figure?

And Hamister’s inflated per-room cost of the Hyatt ($285,000) Place is discouraging local investors, as we reported last week, and even with more than $7 million in taxpayer help committed to the project, Hamister reportedly still hasn’t finalized the financing (he wants to borrow more than it will cost) although he has the building permit in hand and a process, according to Dyster, that will see a ground breaking before the September primary—or maybe sooner---so Dyster can run for re-election with at least a shovel in the ground if nothing else.

Meanwhile, the Hamister Group has selected R&P Oak Hill Development, LLC as the general contractor for the Hyatt Place hotel, a contractor Mark Hamister said in a statement that “we have worked with in the past and have been extremely satisfied with the process and end result.”

Well, we hope Hamister gets the financing in place for his “transformational” Niagara Falls project that he’s putting together on the backs of taxpayers.  Hamister is known as a pretty good fundraiser, especially when it comes to donating to politicians.  He has been a strong donor to Gov. Andrew Cuomo who has been a big supporter of the Niagara Falls project and helped convince the council to support the deal, and now Hamister is showing he can cross the political aisle when it comes to fundraising as he’s part of a group of big hitters who will host a fundraising event in August for Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Marco Rubio in Buffalo.  If Rubio wins the White House, maybe Hamister can build a hotel in Washington courtesy of D. C. taxpayers and the president he helped elect.

Or so it goes.