Niagara Falls, N.Y. - Thursday evening, the Four Points Sheraton hotel in Niagara Falls will have its grand opening.
"It's a smart place to invest money," said Faisal Merani.
Merani and his family are investing a lot of money in Niagara Falls, New York.
They are hotel developers from Niagara Falls, Ontario.
2 On Your Side first spoke with Merani about 18 months ago when his family had just bought two hotels- The Fallside and the old Red Jacket Inn, both on Buffalo Avenue.
The Red Jacket was in pretty rough shape back then.
But over the past year, the Meranis have spent seven million dollars to totally re-do the place.
Scott Brown: "Tell me why you have so much confidence in this side of Niagara Falls."
Faisal Merani: "Well I think the best predictor of the future is the past and since we bought our first hotel in Niagara Falls, New York in 2005 every year has been up and up even in this type of economy."
Over the past few years more and more people have been booking hotel rooms on our side of the Falls.
Despite that, many of those bookings are for one night stays.
The key to downtown's success will be providing people with more to do than just see the Falls in order to turn those one night stays into two and three night stays.
Scott Brown: "If you could wave a magic wand, what are some of the kinds of attractions you'd like to see downtown?"
Faisal Merani: "We can always look at Clifton Hill (across the border) the carnival atmosphere, which definitely has its place, but then on top of that, a couple of museums. I would love to see Old Falls Street with some more restaurants, outdoor patios and definitely some more family style attractions."
So Mr. Mayor how about it?
Scott Brown: "It seems like hotels are moving pretty well now, how about attractions to bring them here?"
Mayor Paul Dyster: "We have a study coming out, we're trying to gauge the level of demand for attractions in the region and we hope to publish that soon. We hope that will help us in drawing some additional operators downtown."
Meanwhile, the Meranis remain bullish on the Falls. Next up, they'll spend more than $15 million on the old Fallsview.
Faisal Merani: "I believe Niagara Falls, New York is on its way up, it's a smart place to invest money I think that's going to continue for a number of years."
And the Meranis aren't the only Canadian developers who feel that way. Last Friday, a developer from Vancouver bought the historic Hotel Niagara for over one million dollars.