By Mark Scheer
Gov. Eliot Spitzer says his administration is willing to work with developers who have yet to live up to expectations in downtown Niagara Falls.
Asked Thursday what he intended to do about local development companies who own vast amounts of real estate downtown and have done little with it, Spitzer said his administration will partner with the city to reach out to those companies in an effort to help them move forward with concrete proposals.
“Those who own the property have been partners in this and we look forward to working with them,” said Spitzer, following an address to the New York Farm Bureau at Conference Center Niagara Falls.
Although the governor didn’t name a company, there are number in Niagara Falls who have earned the ire of various politicians and community groups for failing to deliver on lofty development promises.
Niagara Falls Redevelopment, a group run by New York City real estate developer Howard Milstein, has come under fire recently from the Niagara Organizing Alliance for Hope, a faith-based initiative consisting of more than a dozen local churches striving to increase the quality of life for parishioners and others living in the South End. The group claims NFR — the owner of a sizeable chunk of South End real estate — failed to live up to its contractual obligations with the city to develop property that once was home to 10th Street Park. NOAH members have also demanded the city reclaim the Thirteenth Street Community Center Gym from NFR or use its power of eminent domain to regain ownership of the former 10th Street Park site.
Baltimore-based Cordish Corp. continues to operate the Rainbow Center Mall under a long-standing development agreement with the city that requires the company to maintain certain operating standards on site. Although the company has floated several ideas for the location in the past — including a NASCAR-themed restaurant — the mall no longer operates as a mall and is instead used, in part, as a storage site for the Seneca Niagara Gaming Corp.
City residents are also waiting for the completion of the United Office Building, a renovation project by Buffalo developer Carl Paladino that has been in the works for several yeas. Paladino said back in August that new windows, a new roof, new elevators and other interior renovations have been completed and he expected to welcome the building’s first tenant by the end of this year.
Mayor-elect Paul Dyster, who met privately with Spitzer before the governor’s speech, said the pair talked about several development-related topics, although he declined to be specific. Dyster indicated that the state intends to work with the city to try to alleviate “potential logjams” to business growth in Niagara Falls. Once he takes office, Dyster said he intends to maintain a running dialogue with developers with investments in the city and he hopes, with the assistance of the state, those companies will begin to realize their full potential.
“My impression is that the governor knows there are tremendous partnership opportunities in Niagara Falls,” Dyster said.
