<!--Rick Forgione--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Rick Forgione</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:rick.forgione@niagara-gazette.com">rick.forgione@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
The scene at the west pedestrian mall this past fall was a typical one in Niagara Falls.
Dozens of politicians decked out in three-piece suits congratulated each other and signaled a new dawning for a city that has been promised that so many times before.
The crowd was there to break ground on USA Niagara Development Corp.’s $7.9 million downtown road reconstruction, a project hoping to erase bitter memories of urban renewal and finally reconnect the Old Falls Street corridor from Third Street to the state park’s entrance.
By the end of the ceremony, a select group of state and city officials armed with golden shovels dug into a mound of dirt and smiled for the cameras. But in the crowd, two local businessmen were rolling their eyes.
“They get all excited and have ribbon cuttings for road repairs but shouldn’t they be doing those things anyway?” said Shawn Weber, owner of the Wine on Third bar and Jefferson Apartments. “It’s the biggest joke in the world. We have a new name for them, the ‘USA Niagara Deferred Maintenance Corporation,’ because that’s all they do. You can’t point to one new piece of development they’ve done.”
Weber and fellow businessman Dan Vecchies have been among the most vocal in questioning USA Niagara’s accomplishments since the state agency was formed eight years ago under former Gov. George Pataki. Ironically, Weber has been among the benefactors from the state, having received $100,000 to open his wine bar on Third Street in 2007 and $130,000 to renovate his Jefferson Apartment building this past year.
That hasn’t stopped him from criticizing some of the other project’s USA Niagara has completed, or question whether the agency understands it will take more than multi-million-dollar streetscape projects to truly bring about that new dawning in Niagara Falls.
“I don’t think anybody is saying they haven’t done anything,” Weber said. “What we’re questioning is the type of things they’ve done. It seems like they’re taking one step, but forgetting several other critical steps.”
Laying a foundation
USA Niagara President Christopher Schoepflin makes no apologies about hosting a ribbon cutting for what some may categorize as “just a road project.” He admits the ultimate goal is to build attractions and increase visitorship but insists the infrastructure needs to be in place before that can happen.
“Whether or not people think (streetscape projects) are important, they are critical and we do celebrate every project that we do, from a $100,000 facade renovation of a historic building to a $34-million hotel project,” Schoepflin said. “It’s not just about putting in new roads. Aesthetics and looks and feel, they count. People say ‘well that should have been done anyhow,’ but for the last 30 years has it been done? No. So it’s being done now.”
The $7.9 million west mall project is the largest state allocation USA Niagara has received since its formation. It’s also the agency’s third streetscape project. The first was finished in 2005 and targeted the city’s “entertainment district” along Third Street at a cost of $3.7 million. Sidewalks were widened, the street was narrowed and new lights, signs and other amenities were added in the hopes of making the street more friendly to pedestrian traffic.
USA Niagara followed that up two years later with the $3.2 million reconstruction of the east pedestrian mall portion of Old Falls Street. That also included a reconstructed roadway, wider sidewalks and other bells and whistles. It was awarded the 2008 project of the year in the transportation category by the American Public Works Association, Western New York Branch. The association also recognized the Third Street project, though by most accounts the “entertainment district” has been a failure (see sidebar).
Schoepflin acknowledged the east pedestrian mall was one of those streetscape projects some have criticized for being on the state’s priority list. However, the development on either side of the road is undeniable, he added.
“You have a $100,000 historic renovation of the old JP Morgan with the ACS building, you have a $34 million Crowne Plaza with a sports bar and with a Starbucks and potentially with the NCCC Culinary Institute. Across the street you’ve got a $20 million conference center, so there’s been almost $60 million in investment off of that $3 million street that nobody thinks was necessary,” Schoepflin said.
Plans for the west mall portion of Old Falls Street include purchasing the old Wintergarden for $1.6 million from developer Joseph Anderson and then razing the historic building. Closing that deal has been more difficult than anticipated as asbestos have been found inside, forcing the state to try and renegotiate a lower purchase price from Anderson.
Schoepflin said the purchase offer was based on an appraisal and subject to seven contingencies, one of which was that no asbestos abatement would be needed. Ongoing negotiations with Anderson also include the removal of an interior wall that’s connect to the south side of the Wintergarden and north side of Anderson’s Quality Inn hotel.
“We fully expect to be able to close the transaction in the very near future,” Schoepflin said.
The delay has no impact on the first phase of the west mall project, which will include a new cobblestone street leading from Rainbow Boulevard to the entrance of the Niagara Falls State Park. That work is expected to be completed by July.
Vecchies believes doing another streetscape project will repeat the failures of Third Street.
“They admitted that doing Third Street was a mistake, yet they turned around and did it down on the west mall,” he said. “In their eyes, fixing a road is going to attract business. That’s what they said on Third Street and we all know that hasn’t happened.”
Despite the criticism, Schoepflin believes the west mall project fits in perfectly with the city’s master plan and what officials are trying to do downtown.
“I understand that there’s people who wish that we didn’t have to spend money on things that maybe aren’t as exciting, like streets, but I think it is exciting that we’re reclaiming the Falls Street right of way and that the conductivity between the city and the park will be unlike anything in our lifetime at the end of this calendar year,” he said.
Beyond the Streets
Though he fiercely defends the importance of streetscape projects, Schoepflin also points out USA Niagara has a long list of other successes, including supporting small businesses like Weber’s Wine on Third and mixed-use projects like the United Office Building. The agency has also appropriated state cash for a handful of hotel upgrades, most notably $6 million to supplement a $34 million renovation of the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
“I think that facts matter and changes here over the past eight years have been accumulative and demonstrable and positive,” Schoepflin said. “I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made, not satisfied.”
USA Niagara has attracted criticism for spending millions of taxpayer dollars on hotel renovations when there’s still a dire need for attractions to entice tourists to stay an extra day or two in Niagara Falls. However, Schoepflin argues those type of projects enhance lodging in the city and complement the Conference Center Niagara Falls, another award-winning project that has increased revenues over the past few years but still fails to attract large conventions due to the lack of quality hotel rooms in the city.
“If we don’t upgrade our lodging product, with some retail at the ground level, we’re not going to be a tourist destination,” Schoepflin said. “What you’re going to have is visitors who are going to come in and they’re going to leave because there’s not lodging.”
The $20 million conference center was initially considered too ambitious in a city that has less than 3,000 hotel rooms and trouble attracting visitors staying longer than a day. However, Schoepflin argues that initial public investment was needed to leverage hotel renovation projects from the private sector, such as the Crowne, the new Holiday Inn on Rainbow Boulevard and the historic Hotel Niagara.
Schoepflin said the agency does pursue larger scale projects, like the proposed $100 million Niagara Experience Center, but that doesn’t mean the things being done in the interim are less valuable.
“I think the longer-range play that we’ve been working hard on are some attractions like the Experience Center,” he said. “They’re difficult projects, but this is a difficult business and the stuff that we do builds up and complements each project. It’s hard to get a $100-million project built.”
It may be hard, but it’s a necessity if the city is ever going to thrive again, Weber said.
“The state and the city have to bite the bullet to get the major developers and attractions here so when people are coming there’s something to do,” he said. “It’s a process that’s going to take several years, but if you never do that first part, it’s never going to happen.”
He added USA Niagara doesn’t deserve all of the blame. City officials, business owners and residents have to start demanding a better Niagara Falls.
“I think a large part of the problem is the psyche of the residents,” Weber said. “We’ve just accepted the fact that we live in crap, and we’ve become kind of OK with it.”
