Main Street update

Thursday marked one-year since the City of Niagara Falls held a press conference announcing it was foreclosing on 38 properties held by Blue Cardinal Development and the Rapids Theatre in the Suspension Bridge District.

The properties are now controlled by the city’s Urban Renewal Agency which is losing its chairperson, Kevin Forma, effective Dec. 17.

In the past year, many of the properties have been cleaned out by the Niagara Orleans Land Improvement Corporation in a cooperative effort between USA Niagara Development, the city anofd Niagara County Indistrial Development Agency. The rebirth is more likely to succeed because of the objective scoring of proposed projects as well as a clawback feature on any development. 

USA Niagara gave away two Third Street buildings (the former Imperial Garage and the Niagara Mohawk building). Montante Development, with great fanfare, announced plans for Radio Social, a big entertainment project. That was almost 5 years ago. No work has started. The high cost of construction and the the high cost of borrowing money leaves both buildings not moving forward.

The city, and IDA got wiser after that debacle, tying public aid to a deadline, in other words, "yes, we will economically support your endeavor if it is open by a future date of X."

Two projects in Niagara Falls are facing just such a clawback on January 1. One is the Museum of Kashmiri History at Main and Pine. The other is Hammer & Crown Brewing on Third Street. Hammer & Crown is particularly heartbreaking because John Paul Meteer has done almost all the work needed to build out a brewery but appears to be close to failing.

On Main Street, four development contracts were announced in October, for the Jenss Building, a former law office on Division Street, the former Fusion Night Club and an historic church. Any public money will have the sort of clawback feature that USA Niagara now wishes it gave to Montante.

Develop Niagara, Inc., which will take over a vacant lot at 717 Division St. and a historic house at 723 Division St. The developers are committed to convert the properties into short-term rentals. Victoria Skrlin, of Heritage Real Estate is the daughter of Tamara Skrlin, who has renovated properties along Buffalo Avenue near downtown for similar use.

Niagara National Heritage Area (NFNHA Holdings, LLC), will create an artisan market and antique fair with artist space in a historic former church at 1509 Main St. The Heritage area is the only entity to accomplish anything along the decrepit stretch of the once-bustling Main Street in the last two decades, creating not only numerous murals but making the Jenss Building a work of art.

The crown jewel of the strip, the Jenss Building, will transfer to 1708 Main St. LLC, a team led by architect James Baptiste and Jason Yots and will become 30 market-rate apartments. Yots, who is principal of Common Bond Real Estate, is a realtor, lawyer and developer associated with Preservation Studios LLC where his father, a fixture in Niagara Falls for decades and the original renovator of the Marshall House, still works regularly.

RJ Niagara, LLC was designated to take over 2109 Main St., a former bar and nightclub, converting it into six apartments and a commercial space. Again the developers are connected to Frontier Management and Development LLC, a known entity led by Ryan Dellavia that has completed multiple medium to large scale renovations and restorations in Niagara Falls.

Additionally, potential developer interest has spiked since the announcement of the first four projects with more tours and presentations planned for next week.

The Rapids Theater has had interest from developers. The interior was stripped of anything of value by the previous owner, John Hutchins who fell on hard economic times even before he was prosecuted for scamming the government out of covid relief money.

Hutchins operated the theater from 2001 to 2024 after receiving a $1.5 million Niagara Falls Corporation grant to upgrade the sound and lighting equipment. That equipment was included in what Hutchins sold for cash as he awaited sentencing. Unconfirmed reports are he has already begun serving his sentence.

In recent years the only significant shows held were blues hosted by Anita West. Even if Kingfish or Walter Trout drew 700 people, the 1,800 seat venue still felt empty. A lightning bolt might strike me for suggesting we would be better off if LiveNation took it over. That’s as hypocritical as suggesting Spotify doesn’t hurt my musician friends. If Spotify had come around sooner, Don McLean wouldn’t have been able to pay for 3 divorces off one hit song. Bye bye American Pie. Anyway, lest I digress.

Other Main Street projects showing promise are the former Hart to Hart Furniture store, originally feared too deteriorated to salvage, is better than expected because of its steel frame even if there remains a huge hole in the roof.

Two fronts where there appears to be limited to no progress are on housing for Niagara University students and the renovation of the First Congregation Church of Christ building on Division Street. NU abandoned the Niagara Global Tourism Institute and still owns the TreC Center on Niagara Street even if the tenant it bet on never made a viable go of plans for Tugby's Bazaar because the site was too far from the entertainment and tourism district being across from the casino and near the proposed Centennial Park arena, a half-mile from the entertainment district and state park. 

The dorm is important because, unless the city council delays implementation of the new zoning laws regarding multiple residence dwellings, we are 10 months away from implementation of a new law targeting student housing in DeVeaux. Implementation of the new law has already been delayed twice.