NCCC: ‘Crowne’ jewel for college

College’s culinary institute plans taking shape downtown

By Caitlin Murray<br><a href="mailto:murrayc@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Caitlin</a>

Standing outside the Crowne Plaza Hotel with pedestrians walking by and cars whizzing along Rainbow Boulevard in the distance, the excitement in James Klyczek’s voice is palpable. The culinary institute he’s been dreaming up for the past five years is getting closer to becoming reality.

He’s just hoping the rest of the city will see what he sees, too.

“This is the perfect location,” Klyczek said, showing the probable property boundaries with his hands. “This is like God’s location ... Where else should you have hospitality and tourism? It’s just getting all the naysayers to believe that it’ll work.”

The school he’s talking about is the Culinary Institute Niagara Falls, a $13 million-plus hub for Niagara County Community College’s culinary arts program, where students will take classes while operating a restaurant and bakery/deli.

Fresh plans

Initial plans called for the entire project to be done within the walls of the Crowne Plaza along Third Street, but new designs call for the construction of an additional three-level facility behind the hotel and between the building and the city parking lot along Niagara Street.

The new 30,000- to 40,000-square-foot building will be home to instructional components of the project, including a 100-seat theater-tiered classroom, baking and pastry laboratories and departmental offices.

But there’s one setback still being sorted out — Crowne Plaza does not own the property behind the hotel. It belongs to the City of Niagara Falls.

Klyczek, president of NCCC, is in talks with Mayor Paul Dyster, who said the institute would provide an economic boost for downtown by bringing in young people and training a qualified hospitality workforce. Dyster said an agreement is being worked out to transfer the land and he may ask the City Council to match the county Legislature’s $1.5 million commitment.

“We’ve been enthusiastic about this project from the very beginning,” Dyster said. “It’s just a question of how to make it happen.”

The Third Street property was one of several initially considered for the institute. Sites in Lewiston, near the college’s Sanborn campus and at the former Wintergarden were all rejected. The Crowne Plaza itself underwent a $25 million renovation last year when it was transformed from a Holiday Inn.

The culinary project was originally pegged at about $10 million before the new facility was added to plans.

“It’s driven the price up because new builds cost more, but we’re getting the ideal space then,” Klyczek said. “It’s ideal for two reasons: One, we’re doing all the retail operations in a place that should be retail — a hotel. We’re not opening up anything new that competes with anybody. But also, we get the perfect location.”

Inside the hotel

Crowne Plaza will still contain the institute’s main attraction — a restaurant and massive demonstration kitchen visible to Old Falls Street pedestrians through street-front windows.

In the first phase of the project, the college will take over 3,000 square feet of existing dining space next to a sports bar and renovate it with wood paneling, a wood stove oven and new furniture. It will accommodate 72 seats, plus eight bar stools and a private, computer-ready meeting room for 12.

The college will not seek a liquor license, opting instead to work with the neighboring bar, Klyczek said.

“The school will provide all food to the sports bar and they will provide liquor to the restaurant,” Klyczek said. “We’ll get a percentage of the profit of liquor they sell. They’ll get a profit of food we sell.”

Klyczek said the last wallpaper sample for the restaurant has been selected and specifications have been written up. But before work can begin, attorneys for the college need to reach a lease agreement with the hotel. Once it’s finalized, the college’s board of trustees, the county Legislature and the State University of New York board must approve the project.

“Until that’s all signed and sealed, they can’t lift a hammer basically,” Klyczek said. “Once they start, we estimate between two and four months for construction.”

A deli/bakery sectioned off by glass walls will go in the hotel’s lobby next to an existing Starbucks in the second phase. There students will showcase and sell baked goods they’ve created in labs at the facility next door while serving sandwiches and bagels on site.

Along Old Falls Street next to the restaurant, second phase plans also call for a bookstore to sell supplies to students and merchandise to outside clientele. Klyczek is hoping for a partnership with a well-known retail chain to attract tourists for shopping.

“The idea is it that it would be a college bookstore but it will also be a retail outlet to carry all the branded items from the culinary institute,” Klyczek said. “... What’s a perfect match is that you’ve got that guaranteed customer base with, what, four million people walking through this area that have nowhere else to shop.”

Getting it in place

The college is about halfway through its fundraising efforts, having secured $1.5 million from the county and $6.6 million in matching state budget appropriation funding. The college submitted a $350,000 proposal to the Empire State Development Corporation for help cleaning up the storefronts along Old Falls Street. Another $3 million could come from the city while the rest will come from foundations and grants, Klyczek said.

Klyczek is hopeful the restaurant can be finished by the winter holidays with the rest of work inside the Crowne following soon after. The final phase — constructing the new building next to the hotel — should be done by fall 2009 as long as all the funding comes through. Once the restaurant is up and running, Klyczek hopes securing money for the rest of the $13 million project will be easier, he said.

“That’s why I’m pushing everything to get the restaurant open,” he said. “Because then people will believe it.”