63° and Patchy rain nearby
The Niagara Falls City Council voted 4-1 to gift a Niagara Street development parcel to Montante Development in a special meeting held Wednesday night.
The 502 Niagara St. parcel was foreclosed upon by the city in 2011. $135,000 in back taxes were owed to the city, school and county.
The Niagara Falls Urban Renewal Agency issued a request for proposals and judged Montante’s proposal to be best.
The developer plans to remediate toxic waste thought to be on the site from previous use as a gas station and dry cleaner.
A 4-story, 32,500 square-foot building will be constructed with ground floor commercial space and 33 market-rate rentals upstairs.
If it follows other recent developments, the ground floor space will remain vacant for significant time. The residential space will fill up.
Councilperson Dontae Myles questioned the wisdom of turning over the property to the developer at no cost when it seems there is no accountability and the same few investors keep getting awarded projects that rarely seem to meet economic projections.
Acting Corporation Counsel Tom DeBoy, the only representative of the City Administration to speak at the meeting, suggested to Myles that the time for those questions to be asked was at the Urban Renewal Agency’s meeting, not the council. DeBoy pointed out Council members are URA board members by default.
Myles tried to table the property transfer but his motion failed for lack of a second.
The meeting was attended by about 45 Niagara Falls Waterboard retirees protesting a proposed change in retiree healthcare benefits.
There is no speaking permitted at council special sessions.
