Remember the Downtown Redevelopment Initiative?

So much time, so many plans.

It was March of 2020. The State announced a $10 million Downtown Redevelopment Initiative.

The investment, centered around the Bridge District, roughly framed by Chasm on the north, 11th on the east, and Pierce on the south and the river on the west.

The announcement came with great fanfare and a 248-page plan. Not a single part of it was ever completed.

Blue Cardinal talked a great game but had no money.

Part of the money DRI — $1.6 million included $700,000 for the development of the boutique hotel inside a pair of vacant buildings located at 1810-1812 Main St., $500,000 to develop a convenience store and add retail and apartment space at 2025 Main St. and $400,000 to create retail, office and community gathering space inside a former shoe store at 2002 Main St.

We now have a new plan from the Restaino administration, Niagara County IDA and Niagara Orleans Land Trust to redevelop numerous buildings in the same corridor.

There are fun, retro signs on the boarded up buildings. We even had a press conference in the Rapids Theatre lobby.

A DRI initiative from the State has transformed downtown North Tonawanda along Webster Street with new facades, restaurants and the continuing renaissance of the Riviera Theatre. It has become a different world than it was 15 or 20 years ago.

A similar initiative is underway on Main Street in the city of Tonawanda.

Meanwhile, here we are in Niagara Falls. Of the $10 million, $250,000 was supposed to be spent on a real, viable, thriving business, giving DiCamillo’s an expanded outdoor seating area. Even that hasn’t happened, just like the Academic Innovation Center at the First Congregation Church of Christ Niagara University was supposed to build out on Cleveland Avenue.

Instead, we get a fancy new dream with developers touring derelict buildings and dreaming what if.

Meanwhile, the Local Waterfront Redevelopment Plan is still out there, grinding along, considering the entire waterfront in the city. The No. 1 thing residents asked for was more restaurants but somehow that only translates to an A&W and Moe’s in the tourism district, heavily subsidized the IDA money and treating employees badly.

Meanwhile, the Radio Niagara Project at 500 and 512 Third St. is still alive but Montante Development is clinging to hope at this point because interest rates and construction costs are up even before tariffs hit. Another challenge for any developer is while those construction costs are the same, and rents in Niagara Falls are lower than developers can command in Buffalo or Amherst.