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We’ve had the dog and pony show. It’s all sunshine and lollipops from here.
Media and politicians gathered Friday at City Hall for the coronation of the Centennial Park feasibility study and a rare appearance of Mayor Bob Restaino in the council chambers.
The 65-page report prepared by Sports Facilities Advisory was released electronically after the press conference at city hall hosted by Mayor Robert Restaino and attended by stakeholders and New York Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples Stokes.
The feasibility study, linked in today’s Express, showed revenue and expense projections and painted a glorious, cash-positive picture included a $50 million economic impact over five years just from hotel rooms sold alone! Frank Strangio was there from the Cambria. So was Niresh Patel of the Double Tree, which is about to double in size in an unrelated expansion. Also present were representatives of public affairs firms including Bolton St. John and E3 Communication.
What’s missing from the discussion, other than the presence of community representatives is details on financing and a timeline.
Peoples-Stokes was present but there was no discussion of construction financiing. Between $178.6 and $217.7 million is needed to pay for construction. Also missing from the big beautiful report is from where the $10 million a year or so for debt service, if the city borrows the money, is going to come. Also missing from the report is an estimate on the cost of land acquisition.
There is a discussion of siting, but the only alternative mentioned is the Rainbow Mall which USA Niagara Development is already in the process of redeveloping.
Also absent is any discussion of a timeline for the first puck drop. By hosting the event prior to releasing the report, organizers limited the amount of analysis the media and public could complete before the feel-good show.
The vision for the arena is to extend the tourism season by giving people more to do.
Niagara Falls Redevelopment released a statement in response to the press conference.
Statement of Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR)
June 19, 2025 - We are still reviewing the feasibility study, but note that the RFP for the study made clear that NFR's private property was just one of numerous locations that were supposed to be considered for a potential Centennial Park. The study instead spends just 3 of its 65 pages on the critical location of such a facility and mentions just one other potential site. It also appears to completely ignore information on land acquisition costs, project financing, or the debt burden from issuing bonds to finance the facility.
In the end, the feasibility study covers the same ground as earlier studies, and clearly shows that profit from the facility wouldn't even come close to covering the debt service for financing acquisition costs for the privately owned land. We note that the one other site mentioned is currently City-owned, and that there would be no acquisition cost or legal fees involved in developing an event center on that site.
While many in Niagara Falls talk about a "two-project solution," we are concerned that Mayor Restaino remains fixated on his own "one-project solution" - turning a blind eye to the cost, as well as the loss of the jobs, tax revenues and economic activity that our $1.5 billion Niagara Digital Campus data center development would bring.
As the study completed by MRB Group earlier this year showed, the Niagara Digital Campus would foster career-building jobs and high-tech economic development activity, along with more than $400 million in new tax revenues to the City, the school district, Niagara County and New York State.
We still hope to work with Mayor Restaino and the City of Niagara Falls, and believe the economic activity generated from the Niagara Digital Campus could actually help the community realize other important projects for the City and its residents. We were willing to work with him in early 2021 when we originally contacted the City regarding this project, and we are willing to work with him today - all in the hopes of making the two-project solution a reality.
