NOTEBOOK: Cordish responds on mall

Local News

July 6, 2009

By Mark Scheer<br><a href="mailto:mark.scheer@lockportjournal.com">E-mail Mark</a> The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Mon Jul 06, 2009, 12:39 AM EDT

Developer David Cordish sent me a short response to last week’s notebook.

Mixed reaction is about the best way to describe it.

On the one hand, he said it wasn’t as bad as another local publication’s take on the state of development in Niagara Falls.

On the other hand, he said I missed the mark on the Rainbow Centre mall his company has been leasing from the city since 1981.

The e-mail included a letter from one of Cordish’s associates, a guy named Zed Smith who offered a brief review of the mall’s history and several reasons why the shopping center finds itself in its current condition.

He says two “macro” economic factors fueled the mall’s demise, including the rapid decline in Canadian customers following a drop in the currency exchange rate and the severe economic malaise that gripped the city years ago and really hasn’t really let loose since.

Smith notes that at one point mall tenants were allowed to stay rent free, but none could make it.

In many ways, he suggests the mall agreement was worse for the developer than it was the city.

Despite a poor economy and other factors, Smith notes that the mall operated as a fully functioning retail center under Cordish’s watch for 18 years.

The letter closed on an optimistic note, saying Cordish does not cut and run and wants to work things out in the Falls.

In his letter, Smith asks an intriguing question: “If downtown Niagara Falls is a sure thing, then why aren’t developers lined up to develop?”

It’s the same one people around here have been asking for decades.

I don’t have an answer.

I did see some tangible signs of progress at the new-look West Pedetrian Mall last week.

The state recently completed a $7.9 million redevelopment project in that area. There’s a new cobblestone road stretching from the Prospect Street entrance to Niagara Falls State Park to Rainbow Boulevard. There’s fresh concrete seats, reconditioned lampposts, fresh landscaping and a pair of mist fountains. Across Rainbow Boulevard, the old Wintergarden building continues to come down. Eventually, the area where the atrium once stood will become a pedestrian-friendly connection of its own, making the dowtown area more inviting to visitors who wander out of Niagara Falls State Park, looking for something more to do in Niagara Falls.

It is hoped locally that the public improvements will make properties like Cordish’s Rainbow Mall more attractive to visitors.

Here’s hoping Cordish views it as a welcome sign of progress.

As I said last week, I don’t imagine he enjoys leasing an empty mall anymore than the residents of Niagara Falls like having to explain to newcomers the long and painful history behind how it got that way.

Demler update

The New York State Attorney General’s Office has confirmed receipt of a letter from the Town of Wheatfield Republican Committee which has called for an investigation into Supervisor Timothy Demler.

Lee Park, a spokesperson for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, said his office has received the letter requesting the investigation. Park would not discuss any specific allegations contained in it.

“We have received the letter and we are reveiwing it,” he said before declining further comment.

The Town of Wheatfield GOP Committtee sent a letter requesting an investigation into Demler’s conduct as supervisor following its decision to pull its endorsement of he long-time supervisor. The committee has not released copies of the letter, nor will any members discuss the specific nature of the allegations involved.

Demler insists the committee’s allegations are bogus and are part of a larger effort to smear his reputation and attack his character for political reasons.

The committee pulled its endorsement of Demler for supervisor earlier this year, selecting former Town Justice Robert Cliffe as its preferred candidate.

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