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An article in last week's newspaper provoked laughter throughout Niagara Falls. "State tries to ease crisis in city's convention business," it read.
A much more accurate headline might have been "State tries to create crisis in city's convention business."
We're still waiting on the report being prepared by Hunter Interests that's supposed to identify the downtown location most suitable for holding conventions while the Seneca Nation of Indians decides what it wants to do in regard to opening a casino here.
Apparently, the Rainbow Centre Mall has been removed from consideration.
It is too small, would have to be completely gutted inside and, besides, the Cordish Co. -- which owns the derelict building -- is still hoping to pitch it to the Senecas.
That leaves the former Falls Street Faire and the Nabisco Building and, unless the brain trust at Hunter Interests is being influenced by something other than common sense, the choice should be a simple one.
Falls Street Faire was built in 1991, even though its developers had been unsuccessful in finding any tenants to occupy it. It was officially closed the next year and has sat in abandonment ever since.
During the summer of 2000, a big chunk of its crumbling facade fell off and it was lucky somebody didn't get killed. Newspaper photographers came and took pictures of the debris. Stretching for a block from Third Street to Niagara Boulevard North, the former Faire boasts 120,000 square feet. After you put in kitchens and meeting rooms, you'd be left with about 50,000 square feet of usable space.
Across the river, Hyatt is set to open a 50,000-square-foot convention center housed in a luxury hotel. The facility will have all the high-tech bells and whistles, along with the amenities, that modern convention-goers demand.
If you were planning a convention, which facility would you choose?
Did I mention that Falls Street Faire has no adjacent parking?
Or that semis loading and unloading equipment and displays for attractions like circuses, boat shows and midget car races would snarl downtown traffic for days at a time?
The Falls Street Faire does have two things going for it. One, it is located squarely in the center of the development zone outlined by USA Niagara, the state agency created by Gov. George Pataki to revitalize the area.
The other thing is that it's practically on top of the Holiday Inn Select, which is run by Mark Lepine, who also happens to be president of the Niagara Falls Hotel and Motel Association.
The Nabisco Building consists of a 175,000-square-foot warehouse connected to a manufacturing and office complex that could be developed into a mixed-use hotel, meeting room and office facility.
Up until a few months ago, Kraft was storing food there, and the condition of the property is pristine.
Niagara Falls Redevelopment has an option on the building, and will close on the final sale in July.
They have a very generous proposal on the table, and have expressed a willingness to work with the hoteliers, the city, USA Niagara and anybody else necessary to open a 21st century expo center on the site by July of 2003.
That's a full year sooner than Falls Street Faire could be refurbished.
There is plenty of parking on the Nabisco property, and semis loading and unloading equipment can drive right into the building, a factor that would significantly reduce labor costs.
With 150,000 square feet of usable floorspace, it would dwarf any other convention center on the Niagara Frontier from Buffalo to St. Catharines.
Combined with the casino, the expo center could prove to be the catalyst that pulls Niagara Falls from the malaise with which it has struggled for three decades.
Of course, the Nabisco Building isn't located in USA Niagara's development zone -- it's maybe 50 yards across the line -- and it also isn't adjacent to some big shot's hotel.
Given the history of development in this city, those factors could weigh mightily.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | April 23 2002 |