By Nick matterA nick.mattera@niagara-gazette.com
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS —
SANBORN — Baltimore businessman David Cordish relinquished his claim to a key piece of downtown Niagara Falls property Saturday by donating the former Rainbow Centre Mall to Niagara County Community College.
However, a decision on whether NCCC’s $17.1 million Hospitality, Tourism, Culinary Arts Institute will be located in the former mall is a number of bureaucratic decisions away.
“This is the first step,” Niagara County Community College President James Klyczek said Saturday at the college’s 20th annual scholarship dinner. “We still have a long way to go.”
Klyczek said in order for the college to be able to locate the school at the Rainbow Center, approval must be received from the Niagara County Legislature, the City of Niagara Falls, the NFC Development Corp. and the Niagara Falls Urban Renewal Agency, as well as the college’s board of trustees.
Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster has indicated the city’s intent to release Cordish of his lease to the city.
Cordish’s Rainbow Square Limited’s presence inside the mall building is covered by a series of existing arrangements, including a ground lease with the city and two separate deals with the URA and NFC Development Corp. that set forth additional rights and responsibilities among the parties. The company is barred from re-assigning any of the assets or rights covered by the agreements without approval from the city and the two agencies.
The college plans to use 70,000 square feet of the mall to operate its hospitality and tourism programs, with the remainder of the mall property being turned over to the city of Niagara Falls.
“We estimate that space (needed for the college) to be around 70,000 square feet, including access stairwells, hallways and so on connected to the parking structure,” Klyczek said. “It is the (college) Foundation Board’s intent to turn the remainder of the property over to the city for their development efforts being coordinated with (USA Niagara).”
Klyczek said the building would house about a dozen programs and the college would construct classroom space, a restaurant and retail shops, including a Barnes and Noble bookstore. Klyczek expressed support for the facility being located in downtown Niagara Falls.
“We are capitalizing on the advantage of the foot traffic in Niagara Falls, the location, everything about the falls,” Klyczek said. “We are very optimistic.”
The funding for the project came from a myriad of sources, including federal, state, local and private money. Most notably, $6.5 million garnered in 2007 by state Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte to be used toward the construction of the hospitality and tourism program.
Niagara Falls City Council Chairman Sam Fruscione said the city has contributed around $1 million to the project and is willing to help find more money if it’s needed to bring NCCC to the shuttered mall.
“I think it’s critical we get the Legislature on board. They are a key piece to making sure this happens and, hopefully, we can work together with them to get it done,” Fruscione said. “Niagara Falls has the ability to turn itself around and people are definitely recognizing the potential in Niagara Falls and have a realization that if Niagara Falls does well, the entire county does well.”
The college was also courted by Lockport and Lewiston when it decided to build the hospitality, tourism and culinary arts school off site from its Sanborn campus.
Just last month, Lockport developer David Ulrich offered to build the facility on Canal Street in Lockport.
According to Klyczek, Cordish made the offer to donate the Rainbow Mall property to the college after negotiations deteriorated between the city and USA Niagara, a decision Klyczek called stunning.
Saturday night, officials on hand were unable to quantify the value of the former Rainbow Centre Mall, but Klyczek did note the gift is the largest in the history of NCCC and possibly the largest for any SUNY community college.
When asked what was in it for Cordish, college officials replied, “probably a nice tax write-off.”
The Niagara Falls City Council will vote Monday whether to give Dyster permission to sign off on an agreement that would give Rainbow Square Ltd., the power to assign certain assets covered under its existing lease on the mall property for the purposes of moving the project forward. Similar agreements are expected to be presented Monday to members of both the NFC Development Corp., a division of city government that provides loans to small businesses, and the city’s Urban Renewal Agency. The council will receive an overview of the proposal from Corporation Counsel Craig Johnson during its 4 p.m. agenda review session. Special meetings of the URA and NFC have been scheduled for 4:15 p.m. and 4:20 p.m. respectively.
