By Frank Parlato
Washington, D.C. — Speaking at Data Center World 2025, entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary introduced Wonder Valley, a $2 billion AI-powered data center planned in Alberta, Canada.
O’Leary is best known for his role on ABC’s Shark Tank.
“These facilities are the new backbone of civilization,” O’Leary said.
He emphasized the difficulty of building data centers due to zoning and energy constraints, but lauded Alberta’s natural gas, labor force, fiber access, open terrain and a cooperative government as ideal.
The Romance of Data—and the Man Who Gets It
There was a kind of romance in it, O’Leary, bald head, sharp tongue, boatloads of capital, standing there in the heart of Washington, D.C., talking about data centers like they were “gold in them thar hills!”
“This is the new gold rush,” he said.
Yet while nations and investors like O’Leary align around AI as the next economic frontier, one figure stands out in opposition: Mayor Robert Restaino of Niagara Falls, New York.
The Mayor Who Wants a Splash Park
This mayor has openly opposed a privately funded $1.5 billion AI data campus proposed by Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR).
He wants to take 10 acres of the Niagara Falls’ company’s land to build a taxpayer-funded sports arena and splash park – and in so doing take the entranceway away from the proposed AI data center.
It is almost operatic—the juxtaposition of vision and denial. O’Leary, known as “Mr. Wonderful,” is leading the global push toward large-scale AI infrastructure.
Mayor Restaino clutching the past like a souvenir program, insisted his city’s future was a sports arena and a splash park. In a city that can’t fix its streets.
The Private Project Blocked
The proposed $1.5 billion digital campus—in Niagara Falls is funded by private money, offers real jobs.
Restaino is going the legal route to block the project through eminent domain.
One could ask whether it’s incompetence. Or corruption. But in Niagara Falls, the line between the two has long been blurred by mist.
While West Virginia, Virginia, North Dakota, Alberta and many other places vie to connect at fiber speed, Restaino is looking for a shovel.
Mr. Wonderful’s Résumé vs. Mr. Mistake’s Blueprint
O’Leary ought to know what he is talking about. After co-founding SoftKey Software Products in the 1980s, he sold the company to Mattel for $4.2 billion.
He went on to create O’Leary Ventures, manage a portfolio of exchange-traded funds and become an advocate for capitalist efficiency.He’s not building dreams. He’s building servers.
Conversely, in a world racing toward data infrastructure, cloud computing, and energy independence, Mayor Restaino’s proposal for a 7,000-seat arena in Niagara Falls feels like an investment in time travel—one that risks missing the economic engine of the century ahead.
Sepia-Tinted Fantasies in a Rusting City
He wants to build a concrete bowl.
He offers a vision in sepia: water slides, half-filled seats, and ribbon cuttings.
The lights buzzed. The flag waved. The air smelled like peanuts and beer. A man selling popcorn with a belly and a limp. Root beer in glass bottles.
Yes there was a time when an arena was the heart of a town. But that world had black-and-white televisions and gas for thirty cents.
The trouble is, the new world whispers in silicon, not stadiums. This world builds data.
The Cost of Fantasy in a City That’s Falling Apart
He wants to build ticket booths. With taxpayer money. In a city that can’t keep its young people or its tax base. The buildings are crumbling. The people are leaving.
Niagara Falls suffers from population loss, and poverty.
But its future—if aligned with data—could position it as the next digital corridor in North America.
But like his arena, Niagara Falls looks like the past. Boarded windows. Closed plants. Empty lots, shuttered stores. Families waiting for the next bus out.
Field of Missed Opportunities
This isn’t Field of Dreams. This is Field of Missed Opportunities
Robert Restaino is the only man in the world who looked at a $1.5 billion AI campus and said: “Nah. Let’s build a splash park.”
Niagara Falls just wants a little league hockey tournament instead.
