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(Editor’s note: Centennial Park in Niagara Falls is the proposed home of an Ontario Hockey League team. There are 68 games in an OHL season. With an average attendance of 5,000 and a cost of $22 per ticket that makes $7.48 million in revenue. The city would be responsible for utilities, maintenance and emergency services. Including concession sales and other events, revenue would be $15 million tops. I won’t get into speculating on the cost of money but if the State ponies up $150 million, Falls taxpayers would need a $50 million bond. I can’t wait to see the feasibility study math let alone details on why it makes sense to build this arena next to the casino half a mile from the tourism district. WIVB had an item on the most recent court ruling that is linked in today’s Express.)
By Aidan Joly
WIVB
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A state appeals court has rejected an effort from a Niagara Falls development company to open back up an eminent domain case involving a piece of land on 10th Street and Falls Street.
The piece of land is located at the corner of 10th and Falls, one block east of the Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino. Courts have authorized the land to be dealt back to the city using eminent domain.
The land was supposed to have been deeded in a 2003 deal with former mayor Irene Elia to Niagara Falls Redevelopment, LLC, a private company that is not affiliated with the government. The company is planning on using a large portion of land — part of which is the area on 10th and Falls — to build a $1.5 billion technology and data campus.
The land used to be a park and a playground and extends out as far as Portage Road, but the property is mostly vacant homes and empty lots where homes have been torn down.
However, Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino said that there are no records to indicate that that part of the land on 10th and Falls belongs to NFR. He says that NFR never officially completed the process of taking over the land by gaining approval from the New York State Legislature, a requirement under state law.
The city plans on building a new park on the land, as well as a $200 million arena and events center, with a proposal to host a major junior hockey league team. NFR already owns approximately 140 acres of land in the area, but this dispute is over a small area. The land that was the former park is just under five acres, and the total area of the property being sought through eminent domain is approximately 12 acres.
NFR has appealed to the courts several times to get the land deeded to them, but none of the attempts have been successful.
“I wonder sometimes whether or not the hope is that maybe we’ll get tired,” Restaino said.
Eminent domain is defined as the government having the power to take over private property for public use, with the owner of the private property being compensated. Its current iteration has been law in the U.S. since 1875 following a Supreme Court ruling.
In order to build the arena and events center, the city needs to have site control, which it currently is still waiting on. The city has pending action in court to say that the park belongs to them. Restaino estimated that the ruling could come down in the next 60-75 days.
The city remains in talks with the Ontario Hockey League about the city receiving a franchise, but the arena would need to be built first. Restaino said that he remains in communication with OHL commissioner Bryan Crawford, who has indicated that he has spoken with multiple potential ownership groups about bringing a team to the arena.
NFR has claimed that what the city is doing is “illegal” and that there has not been a feasibility study done to show the best location for the events center.
“Sadly, taxpayers continue to pay legal fees for all the mayor’s litigation, and are forced to watch as, for reasons nobody understands, he works to prevent NFR from building its economy-transforming, privately funded, $1.5 billion data center,” NFR said in a statement to WIVB News 4 on Wednesday. “A project that experts have demonstrated would bring jobs, tax revenue, and high tech opportunity to the City of Niagara Falls.”
However, at least some parts of the data center have begun to take shape.
“All that said, we are pleased that the Niagara Digital Campus project has now begun to move forward, with the City Council memorializing its intent last week to take the lead,” NFR added.
The city remains focused on getting the land back to the city.
“I just think that the public really is entitled to have this property returned to them,” Restaino said. “And for the eminent domain as the court has authorized to be completed, let the city finally take back some of its downtown property.”
Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here.
