Hotel Niagara rebirth planned

(Editor’s note: The following was initially published by Jim Fink of Business First. Hotel Niagara as it sits today is surrounded by fence. At one point, it had signs saying renovation was imminent and crediting Gov. Andrew Cuomo. That sign was replaced by one lauding Gov. Kathy Hochul. In 2023, urban explorers posted video to Youtube showing the decrepit state of the once-grandiose hotel. As of Tuesday, windows on the top floor, facing the water, were open.)

Plans to renovate and redevelop the historic Hotel Niagara have re-emerged four years after the proposal stalled because of the Covid 19 pandemic.

Syracuse-based Hotel Niagara Development LLC - an affiliate of Brine Wells Development LLC - has revived its renovation plans for the 12-story, long-shuttered Rainbow Boulevard landmark.

Hotel Niagara is proposing to invest $50,799,500 in the project that will turn vacant rooms into 160 hotel rooms - including one presidential suite - plus a pair of ballrooms, five meeting rooms, a full-service restaurant that highlights New York State foods and wines, and a rooftop lounge that offers a panoramic view of Niagara Falls and Canada.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the hotel opened in 1923 and its heyday welcomed such guests as Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, Frank Sinatra and President Eisenhower. Monroe stayed in the hotel for more than two months while filming “Niagara” in 1952.