NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — There's a battle over plans to redevelop a long-vacant piece of property in the City of Niagara Falls at the corner of Falls Street and John Daly Boulevard.
The city administration has proposed creating a public space and event center called "Centennial Park" and acquiring the land through eminent domain. Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino told 2 On Your Side the 12-acre parcel has been vacant and undeveloped for nearly 25 years.
"Whatever reason of prior administrations for not wanting to take the steps necessary to engage that property I'm not here to comment on, but I can tell you that the 2017 study [of Niagara Falls] done by a Minneapolis firm indicated that one of the pieces that was missing for downtown was an appropriate park including an events center," said Mayor Restaino on Wednesday.
The only dilemma is the "Centennial Park" proposal has competition.
The landowner, Niagara Falls Redevelopment LLC. or NFR, unveiled plans for the first time Tuesday that call for building a $1.48 billion data center and digital campus in the same spot. The public announcement came just over 24 hours before a Wednesday hearing on eminent domain was set to be held.
The public hearing was held by the Niagara Falls City Council. It lasted around two hours and about a half dozen city residents signed up to speak. Representatives from both projects also offered statements and discussed their proposals.
Attorney John Horn of Harter Secrest & Emery LLP. spoke on behalf of NFR. During his remarks, Horn said that NFR and Urbacon, the Toronto-based construction company also working on the project, had met with Mayor Restaino in September 2021.
Mayor Restaino announced his plans for "Centennial Park" in late October 2021.
Urbancon Vice President of Properties and Development Management Peter Russell claimed that other work regarding the data center started sooner.
"February of last year we began quietly researching the potential for development on this site. We did recognize that there was a land-use permission aspect that was problematic for us," Russell said.
In December 2021, the city council voted to ban the construction of data and crypto mining centers from being built in Niagara Falls citing their high electricity usage and concerns about negative community impacts including noise. The 180-day moratorium expired on June 15.
Urbacon which operates three other data centers in Montreal, Toronto, and Richmond Hill, Ontario, and specializes in such construction projects has said the proposed Niagara Falls facility would bring a reported 550 jobs to the area. City council members however questioned whether some of those jobs would be remote, a common practice in the tech industry.
Russell said it would largely depend on what the operator or operators choose. Web or cloud service providers like Amazon, Apple, Google, or others would essentially rent the space from Urbacon.
The hearing quickly became part public negotiation, part debate with attorneys representing both the City of Niagara Falls and NFR taking turns refuting various statements made by the other.
"It's a great use but it should be in the right place and this is not the right place," said attorney Dan Spitzer of Hodgson Russ LLP., on behalf of the city administration.
"Unless you want to tear down churches, social service buildings, and homes the alternative offered by NFR also does not work," he added.
Niagara Falls resident Todd [Last Name Unknown] compared the back and forth to his daughters fighting over the same scooter.
"[It] sits empty most of the time but as soon as one makes a move towards the unicorn scooter they both want the unicorn scooter," Todd said.
Several other speakers questioned why NFR hadn't developed the plot of land being considered at any other point in their 25-year ownership. Others blamed the City of Niagara Falls administration for their own inaction but more than one neighbor asked the question: why not do both projects?
"We need to work this out. We need to be adults here... somehow this council, this administration, which I have great fail in... please work this deal out," another speaker exclaimed.
Another consideration for both projects will be funding which was brought up several times during the public hearing. The City of Niagara Falls has a long history of financial struggles. The proposed "Centennial Park" project would seek grants and other state aid to pay for itself Spitzer said. The proposed data center Horn said would be privately funded however there was no mention of tax incentives or other types of indirect financial.
Urbacon Vice President Peter Russell however cautioned, "If it's too hard to get things done then frankly we need to look elsewhere.”