New downtown Sheraton celebrates official opening

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Niagara Falls Sheraton General Manager Mark Bibb holds one of the newest hotel room keys in the city as the hotel celebrated its grand opening on Thursday. James Neiss
The new Niagara Falls Sheraton Hotel celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday. Doing the honors from left are, Mayor Paul Dyster, Deborah Schultz, senior director of operations for Starwood Hotels and Resorts, General Manager Mark Bibb, owner Michael DiCienzo and City Administrator Donna Owens. James Neiss

March 17, 2011

By Rick Pfeiffer Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Thu Mar 17, 2011, 11:47 PM EDT

NIAGARA FALLS — A family with a long history in Niagara Falls hotels is expanding back into the Cataract City and putting a new face and name on a familiar Third Street fixture.

Under the kind of sunny skies that herald the return of tourist season to the Falls, the DiCienzo family, the owners of Canadian Niagara Hotels Inc., cut the ribbon on their newest New York property, the newly rechristened Sheraton at the Falls.

“In the 1990s we were here in a big way,” said Michael DiCienzo, vice president of the family controlled hotel group. “Now we’re coming back. A lot of things have happened, it’s changed a lot.”

Change for the better in DiCienzo’s view. His company, which operates six prominent hotels in the Falls, Ontario, as well as the Days Inn on Main Street here, has converted what was the Crowne Plaza into a Sheraton hotel as part of a plan to jump start business there.

“Sheraton is a really good brand, it’s upscale and it’s well known both domestically and internationally, “ DiCienzo said. It’s known for convention business and we have the convention center right across the street. It’s also popular with corporate travelers, but also families. Families are a key here and the Crowne Plaza didn’t fit that. The Sheraton does.”

The building, located at Third and Niagara streets, was recently renovated and DiCienzo said the addition of a well-known classic America fare restaurant will be the most visible change besides the new name on the facade. As time goes on, DiCienzo said he will look to add more retail outlets to the hotel’s ground floor and “some attractions.”

Sheraton is a brand of the Starwood Hotels Group and Deborah Schultz, the group’s vice president of marketing, said they were eager to get down to business in the Falls.

“This is a great project,” Schultz said. “We look forward to a greater presence of the Sheraton brand in Niagara Falls.”

Mayor Paul Dyster noted the change over at the hotel was occurring on the 119th anniversary of the incorporation of the Falls as a city.

“We see a street and a downtown business district on the upswing,” Dyster said. “A family noted for the best operations on (the Canadian side) of the border has taken a peek over here and they’ll help in the redevelopment of Niagara Falls.”

Canadian Niagara Hotels bought the new 391-room Sheraton for nearly $21 million at a foreclosure auction less than a year ago.

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