There are two kinds of mayors in the world: the kind who build things, and the kind who spend taxpayer money hiring lawyers to explain why they can’t build things.
Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino, for reasons known only to him, has chosen the latter.
Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR), a private company, has gone to court to prevent him from taking their land through eminent domain.
Restaino wants to build a 7,000-seat arena. He does not have a team to play in it. He does not have money to pay for it. He does not have a feasibility study that says it is a good idea. But he has lawyers, and they have assured him that with enough paperwork and enough speeches on YouTube, anything is possible.
And so, for two years, the City argued in court that it needed 9.9 acres of land from NFR to build the arena. The City Council put it in writing: the land was private property, and the only way to get it was through eminent domain.
Then, a miracle.
A Sudden Discovery
Two years into the fight, Mayor Restaino woke up one morning and realized—the City already owned half the land – because he said it was once a playground which means it was designated parkland.
He explained on YouTube:
“I’ve shared with you the great news that we’ve received,” he said, “that the City of Niagara Falls actually already owns half of this property!”
Which was odd, because the City had spent two years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees insisting the exact opposite.
NFR’s lawyer, John G. Horn, filed a motion pointing out the obvious:
“Approximately 18 months after this Court issued [its] Order… the City alleged for the first time that it—not NFR—already owns nearly half of the 9.9 acres it sought to take by eminent domain.”
Restaino, undeterred, doubled down.
The Loophole
On January 14, 2025, the City’s lawyers sent a letter to NFR. It was polite. “Dear NFR,” it said (more or less). “You don’t actually own this land. We do. Please sign it back over to us. Thanks!”
NFR did not sign it back over.
A week later, Restaino was back on YouTube. “This top parcel used to be a playground and a park,” he explained. “And in 2003, former Mayor Elia signed an agreement with NFR.”
What he meant was when the City sold the land to NFR twenty years ago, it forgot to ask the state for permission. An oversight. Like forgetting to sign your mortgage. Or forgetting your anniversary.
Since the paperwork was never properly filed, Restaino reasoned, the sale had never really happened.
And so, in a stroke of bureaucratic genius, he announced that the City did not need to buy back the land at all.
It already owned it.
Math Problem
On March 5, 2025, NFR filed a motion with the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, demanding that the City’s eminent domain ruling be thrown out.
The court will hear arguments on March 24, 2025, in Rochester, New York.
What is at stake?
NFR wants to build a $1.5 billion AI Digital Data Center on the 9.9 acres that Restaino wants to take. It is a fully funded project that would create 550 full-time jobs and make Niagara Falls a major player in the tech industry.
Restaino wants to build a $150 million arena with no funding, no sports team, and no plan.
The problem is that eminent domain has two steps:
One: the government proves it has the right to take the land. Two: the government pays for the land.
Restaino won Step 1. But now that he has to pay for it, he has realized something alarming:
It costs money. At least $25 to $40 million.
Which the City does not have. So now he argues that the city actually owns nearly half the land. This way, he thinks, he can cut the price almost in half.
The problem is, the city already decided this issue in 2004 when they sold the land to NFR.
Then-Mayor Vincent Anello said: “Just because you call some place a park doesn’t mean it went through all the processes of becoming a park.” The 2004 City Council agreed, and the land was sold to NFR. The company paid for it, cleaned up environmental hazards the city ignored, and paid property taxes on it for 20 years.
Facts to Be Discerned
Meanwhile, in the Real World…
Most mayors would be thrilled to land a $1.5 billion AI investment.
Restaino, instead, is spending taxpayer money fighting to stop it.
AI data centers are booming across the country. Cities are offering tax breaks to attract them.
Niagara Falls is trying to kick one out to build a stadium for a hockey team that does not exist.
And even if it did exist, junior hockey teams average about 2,000 fans per game. Which means Restaino’s 7,000-seat arena would be mostly empty.
And even if it weren’t empty, stadiums provide mostly low-wage, part-time jobs.
And even if that didn’t matter, where is the money coming from?
Taxpayers.
Through bonds, service cuts, or new taxes.
So:
- The AI Data Center creates 550+ full-time jobs, attracts Google, Yahoo, and other tech giants, and requires zero taxpayer money.
- The arena creates part-time jobs, has no guaranteed team, and relies on taxpayer funding.
One of these things makes sense.
Mayor Robert Restaino has chosen the other one.
Most cities would be bending over backwards to land a $1.5 billion tech investment.
Not Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls is fighting it off with a club.
Because Robert Restaino needs his arena.
Even though he has no money for it. Even though he has no team for it. Even though he has no plan for it.
But he has lawyers. And he has YouTube.
And in 20 years, when people drive past the vacant lot that used to be a promising AI campus and is now a patch of weeds, they will ask,
“What happened here?”
And the only answer will be:
A mayor had an idea.