Niagara Falls, New York - Gallery

[Kris]

January 3, 2004

Niagara's Trickle-Down Theory: Waiting to Share Casino's Success

By DAVID STABA


Steve Fournier Jr., right, whose business at the Cafe Etc. bar is booming, and his father, Steve Fournier Sr., who closed his pizzeria next door in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y., Jan. 2 — A year after the opening of western New York's first casino, the drinks are flowing in a decidedly Niagara-like way at Cafe Etc., a martini bar that Steve Fournier Jr. opened just around the corner.

But last Monday, Mr. Fournier's father closed his pizza shop next door after nearly a quarter-century of operating businesses in the decaying downtown tourist district.

The mixed fortunes of the Fourniers are a mirror of the city's as it waits to find out whether the Seneca Niagara Casino will live up to the hopes raised on New Year's Eve 2002 as the first coins dropped in the slot machines: that the Indian-owned gambling hall would help lift Niagara Falls out of its economic tailspin.

Steve Fournier Sr. said the steady exodus of industrial and white-collar jobs over the last 30 years had eroded his customer base. "The casino helped," Mr. Fournier, 52, said as he cleaned out his pizza kitchen. "But it didn't help enough to make up for what we had lost previously."

His son, however, planned on drawing casino workers and executives rather than counting on gamblers to tear themselves away from the slot machines and blackjack tables. He took a former dance club, restored its vintage wood bar, scrubbed and painted it, and started booking live jazz acts. So far, the plan seems to be working.

"Any time you've got 2,000 people working down the street from this kind of place, it's got to be good for business," said Mr. Fournier, 31.

No one doubts the casino is thriving. It took in $4 billion during its first year, casino officials say, and draws an estimated crowd of 10,000 to 12,000 people on weekdays, and double that on weekends.

But it remains to be seen whether the booming trade will spill out beyond the curved shell, reminiscent of an oversize Quonset hut, that houses the gambling operation.

Even the casino's strongest advocates concede that the kind of development boom that transformed the city's Canadian neighbor — Niagara Falls in Ontario — after a casino opened there in 1996 has yet to take place on the American side.

"It's helped some businesses in the area, but I don't think the general economy of the city has changed at this point," said Mayor Vince V. Anello, who was sworn in on Thursday. "It's certainly brought new attention to our city and attracted new investors."

A state-financed effort to turn a long-vacant downtown building a block from the casino into a high-tech meeting center is scheduled to be completed in the spring.

On Dec. 26, officials of the Seneca Gaming Corporation, which operates the casino, announced plans to build a 26-story, $140 million hotel, restaurant and entertainment complex adjacent to the casino. Some fear that the new complex will siphon customers from other hotels and businesses downtown, without providing revenue to help rebuild the city around it, because the 55-acre parcel owned by the Seneca Nation is exempt from taxes. Others, though, say that the more development, the more tourists and investors the city will draw.

Other projects proposed by private companies and the USA Niagara Development Corporation, a state economic development agency, remain either in planning or stalled by jurisdictional disputes.

It may be too soon to expect the kind of boom that remade the Canadian city, many officials say.

"The major development there didn't happen for two years after the casino opened," said State Senator George D. Maziarz, a vocal proponent of Albany's casino compact with the Seneca Nation. "There hasn't been as much spinoff as we'd like to see, but that's going to take time."

Niagara Falls Redevelopment, supported by the New York City financier Howard Milstein, owns or holds options on 142 acres near the casino. The company announced plans in August to spend $110 million in five years to develop hotels, restaurants and other attractions.

But Roger Trevino, a vice president of the company, said tourism-industry investors were waiting to see if the steady flow of casino patrons continues.

"There's a consistent stream of traffic, which is what developers, retailers and the hospitality industry would like to see," Mr. Trevino said. "Most people we've talked to would like to see a fuller track record, to make sure it's not a curiosity."

Both state and city officials hope to parlay their portions of casino revenues into making the city more attractive to outside investors. Under terms of the casino compact, the state is scheduled to receive $38 million in the next few weeks as its share from Seneca Niagara's first year, with about $9.5 million of that going to the city.

Mr. Anello, a Democrat, and Mr. Maziarz, a Republican, hold two of the five seats on a commission overseeing the distribution of the city's casino money. While they have differed on how the revenue should be spent, both said the bulk should go toward infrastructure and housing projects. Those needs are glaring within a few blocks of the casino, where vacant buildings, crumbling curbs and cracked sidewalks line potholed streets.

"Hopefully, they'll use the money to clean things up a little bit," said Chance Gabrus, 31, a printer who lives here. "It seems like things are changing here, and the casino is putting some fresh air back into the area."

Other businesses near the casino, like Surjit Bajwa's service station, have gotten a lift from casino patrons and employees, as well as construction workers who renovated the former convention center and are building a 2,400-car parking garage, part of which opened this week.

Mr. Bajwa, a New York City native who moved here almost three years ago, said he planned to expand his business to include a fast-food franchise.

"It's been a good boost for business," he said of the casino. "So far, there's been no downside."

USA Niagara announced plans last fall to help smaller entrepreneurs refurbish the Third Street commercial district, where the Fourniers do business. Some private investors are not waiting for government assistance to spruce things up, though.

Daniel W. Vecchies and his family have spent more than $500,000 buying and renovating properties on the same block as Mr. Fournier's bar. Mr. Vecchies's Shadow Martini Bar and Restaurant opened in October, and he plans to have a steakhouse operating across the street by next tourist season.

"Forty years of decline isn't going to turn around overnight," Mr. Vecchies said. "The casino is like a gold mine for this city and people like me have to think, `What's the best way to mine that gold?' "

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Kris]

http://www.fotop.net/muchswatch/niagara

[TLOZ Link5]

Niagara Falls, New York used to have over 100,000 people at its peak in the 50s and 60s. Now, it has around 50,000. Its decline is similar to that of Buffalo and other upstate cities, though a better parallel might be drawn to Gary, Indiana or Youngstown, Ohio — cities of similar size and prosperity that have also lost huge portions of their populations, going from six digits to five.

[tmg]

The Buffalo News
October 11, 2004

FALLS, ONT., GETS GO-AHEAD TO GROW BIGGER, TALLER;
MORE HIGH-RISE HOTELS ARE PLANNED TO HANDLE THE ANTICIPATED GROWTH IN TOURISM

By Bill Michelmore - NEWS NIAGARA BUREAU

NIAGARA FALLS, ONT. - The skyline on the Canadian side of the falls is like an impressive painting that's not even half finished.

Already the envy of frustrated planners and residents on the American side, this city has the green light to grow even bigger and taller.

A second tier of high-rise hotels is planned behind the existing string of skyscrapers in the Central Tourist District, just south of the Rainbow Bridge.

That second string of buildings will be taller and more slender than the current structures, with at least a building-width of space between them. That design has a purpose: It allows the falls' mist to fan out over a greater area and permit more sunlight to stream over the falls, architects believe.

"We want to give the skyline room to breathe," said Douglas Darbyson, the city's director of planning. "The buildings will be taller so people in the second tier can see over the existing tier."

In addition to the aesthetic factor, the city's new urban design has an "over-the-shoulder" effect.

The City Council approved the new concept after commissioning a Toronto consulting firm, the IBI Group, to do an urban design study.

"A greater variety of building heights can contribute to a more varied appearance, especially from the American side," the report stated in its overview. "It will create visual depth and reduce the impression that the Tourist District is creating a wall condition along the escarpment."

No limit will be set on height, but the width of the hotels at the base must not exceed 131 feet -- some existing buildings are considerably more than that -- and the structures must rise in ever narrowing gradations.

Tall, narrow buildings

"Right now, we have a wall effect," Mayor Ted Salci said. "This is a whole new concept that avoids any future extension of that wall. All new buildings will be tall and narrow."

The existing Hilton Hotel at the corner of Fallsview Boulevard and Murray Street is the first example of what the new design plan will bring.

Architects of an $84 million (U.S.) Hilton expansion were asked to get away from the slab-like appearance that officials said characterizes many of the existing buildings, and come up with a tall, slender tower design.

The 58-story expanded Hilton tower will be the city's tallest, outreaching the Skylon Tower, the city's current leading skyscraper, by about 100 feet. Even skyscraper-packed Toronto has only three office towers that are taller.

The new Hilton will be nearly three times higher than the tallest building on the New York side of the border, the 20-story United Office Building.

Construction will start before the end of the year and take two years, Salci said.

Practically all of the major hotel development in the city has occurred during the past 10 years. A dozen hotels have been built in the last six years, and there are eight more proposals for high-rise hotels, Salci said.

"The development has been pretty rapid," said Kenneth Mech, the city's manager of current planning.

"Not many cities of this relatively modest size (80,000 people) have as many high-rise hotels."

The fanciest of them all so far is the Fallsview Casino Resort, which opened on Murray Hill in June. It's the city's second casino and a big moneymaker, providing funds to develop the city beyond even the mayor's expectations.

"I look at what this sleepy little town has become, and I say to myself, 'Who would have ever thought?' " said Salci, a former real estate agent who was born and raised in Niagara Falls, Ont.

The City Council gave discretion to any height limit, based on the quality of a building's architecture.

"The hotels overlooking Queen Victoria Park were built without enough diversity, making the skyline look like a wall of concrete," Darbyson said. "Our objective is to build a variable skyline and change that slablike appearance."

The slablike wall was creating what Darbyson calls a "microclimate effect."

"The sunshine wasn't getting through, and the mist from the falls had nowhere to go," he said.

Mist from the Horseshoe Falls currently drops like a gentle rainshower on people milling about Table Rock.

Although there is no limit on the height of new buildings, developers must give 5 percent of the cost of each floor over 30 stories to the city for community development projects, Salci said.

For example, the city will receive nearly $1 million from the 58-story Hilton Hotel, paying for the $100,000 urban study on new development 10 times over.

Not everyone pleased

Not all city residents are impressed. Slablike or slender, the skyline has destroyed the beauty of the city and diminished the grandeur of the falls, some longtime residents say.

"That was all green space," said Patricia Mangoff, who grew up downtown. "The thing that's so sickening about that concrete wall is that it will always be there."

Mangoff, a member of a group called Preserve Our Parks, is the mayor's sister.

"My brother had nothing to do with the wall," she noted. Salci took office Dec. 1, unseating the 17-year administration of Wayne Thomson.

Still, the damage has been done, said Carol Robertson, a lifelong resident.

"It's absolutely disgusting," she said. "Moreover, many of us don't think they should build any more hotels. Who's going to pick up the tab when there are too many and they start to fold?"

There are currently more than 16,000 hotel and motel rooms in the city, more than four times the number of rooms in Niagara Falls, N.Y. With the current influx of 16 million tourists a year anticipated to swell to 22 million over the next 10 years, hoteliers say there's a definite need for more rooms.

Hilton Hotel owner Vincent DiCosimo sees nothing but a glowing future. He pushed for more than 18 months for expansion, which will add 468 rooms to the existing 492 rooms in his hotel. The expanded property will generate $2.8 million in property taxes for the city.

Unlike its namesake on the American side of the Niagara River, money is not a problem on the Ontario side.

Niagara Falls, Ont., receives $2 million each year from the profits of Casino Niagara, the city's first casino, and the mayor said he is negotiating to get twice that from the new Fallsview Casino Resort. The city's share of the proceeds from Casino Niagara comes to a little under $1 million.

Niagara Falls, Ont.'s share from Fallsview's property tax bill will be $2.3 million, Salci said.

In August, the Preserve Our Parks group successfully blocked a $17 million cable car project that would have carried tourists high above the Niagara River along the gorge wall.

The Niagara Parks Commission n is trying to recover $5.8 million in losses for the 2002-03 fiscal year. Caused by the SARS outbreak, mad cow disease and lingering post-9/11 border concerns, it was the first time the commission has lost money since World War II.

Kirkland, the Toronto architect, said all the hotel development is due to the "great success" of the parks commission in creating a parkland environment and tourist attractions from Fort Erie to Niagara-on-the-Lake.

"The trouble with Niagara Falls, N.Y., is that it has no plan," said Kirkland. "You don't wait for some guy from L.A. or Toronto to come along and ask him what he wants to do. What developers want most of all is a strong plan of what a city wants. Niagara Falls, N.Y. could be a fabulous city, but it's lost."

[Dr Funky]

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[Dr Funky]

-

[milleniumcab]

These pictures are so sad..

[Schadenfrau]

I don't think I've ever seen more abandoned houses and businesses anywhere other than Buffalo/Niagara Falls.

I had no idea until I was riding in a bus down one of the streets, around 8PM, and wondered why none of the houses had any lights on. After about three blocks and a completely shuttered Pizza Hut, I figured it out.

[Dr Funky]

Originally Posted by Schadenfrau

I don't think I've ever seen more abandoned houses and businesses anywhere other than Buffalo/Niagara Falls.

I had no idea until I was riding in a bus down one of the streets, around 8PM, and wondered why none of the houses had any lights on. After about three blocks and a completely shuttered Pizza Hut, I figured it out.

You get used to it....

[Schadenfrau]

Yeah, I'm familiar with abandoned homes and businesses.

I understand that you're concerned with the goings-on in your hometown, but would you like to discuss something in particular? You're clearly dealing with a group that doesn't think the area is filled with cornfields and whatnot.

[Dr Funky]

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[Dr Funky]

=extra post-

[ablarc]

"We want to give the skyline room to breathe," said Douglas Darbyson, the city's director of planning. "The buildings will be taller so people in the second tier can see over the existing tier."

In addition to the aesthetic factor, the city's new urban design has an "over-the-shoulder" effect.

The City Council approved the new concept after commissioning a Toronto consulting firm, the IBI Group, to do an urban design study.

"A greater variety of building heights can contribute to a more varied appearance, especially from the American side," the report stated in its overview. "It will create visual depth and reduce the impression [of] creating a wall condition along the escarpment."

No limit will be set on height, but the width of the hotels at the base must not exceed 131 feet -- some existing buildings are considerably more than that -- and the structures must rise in ever narrowing gradations.

Tall, narrow buildings.

"Right now, we have a wall effect," Mayor Ted Salci said. "This is a whole new concept that avoids any future extension of that wall. All new buildings will be tall and narrow."

They need to read this to every member of the city council in Hoboken.

After that: the New York City Council.




Then read it to every NIMBY everywhere.

[Dr Funky]

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[MrSpice]

This is the best-looking Stop sign I have ever seen.