In depth with Anthony Vilardo

We hear all the time about Centennial Park, Urbacon and do nothing developers who may as well be talking about Disney, the Land of Oz, a new Wintergarden or AquaFalls.

The truth is none of those things will ever be built not matter how well Mark Scheer documents our failures in the Niagara Gazette. The jobs in the chemical plants are never coming back. Neither is Don Stefano Maggadino.

Some things in Niagara Falls are actually moving forward, for example, the rebirth of the city market, Main Street and investment in the tourist district. All in, it represents in excess of $625 million. When the Express started writing this story a few weeks ago, that number was $500 million. It grew 25% with Rupal Hospitality’s project at 901 Buffalo Avenue being announced last week.

Is any of it perfect? Decidedly not. The only things that are perfect are a poptart from Misty Guild, the stuffed French toast at the Marketside and maybe a peanut stick from DiCamillo’s.

Downloaded to the Express Website, and published publicly for the first time is a comprehensive list of state investment in downtown including 12 pages of projects either completed or underway and representing $450 million in investment even without the inclusion of projects listed with public and private funding to be decided.

There are other big things we can dream about as well. For example adaptive reuses of the Schoellkopf Orphanage in DeVeaux Woods State Park or the reimagined Mount St. Mary’s Nursing Home as mixed-used development and apartment complex on Lewiston Road.

The owners of the nursing home have presented plans to the mayor within the last 6 months. They are in the endless search for financing, difficult in good times, really rough given the current federal economy.

The building in DeVeaux Woods also faces a struggle. It is weather-tight and asbestos free but it is also historical, so given current codes, it is an architectural challenge to make it work even without an operator like Delaware North knowing it must commit $30 million or so to build out a property it can never own, only lease, because it is in a state park.

It’s also not the $10 billion happening across the river in Niagara Falls, Ontario where a dynamic provincial government is investing in a city with a dynamic Mayor, Jim Diodati, but it is a significant effort in Niagara Falls USA. 

This comes even before Albany commits $1 billion to the Niagara Region or the big federal spending plan coming in 2029 to reverse the Trump recession includes $750 million to relocate the Niagara Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant, make the Tesla Transformer House a world-class museum and reawaken the Turtle. I will settle for $500 million if they want to negotiate but THIS IS THE NIAGARA REGION! Buffalo is our little brother. Niagara Falls Ontario will help drive our regional success. Buffalo is like Green Bay, a lovable small city that clings to its football team as an NFL quirk.

With leadership, all those dreams can happen. For now, we will focus in-depth on USA Niagara Development President Anthony Vilardo, the guy pulling the strings in the tourist area if not the north end, sometimes in concert with Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino and sometimes as a one-sided effort on state land.

We will still have hiccups. For example, we are at the point now where we can say the rebirth of the Suspension Bridge District is ahead of anything happening on Third Street where by 10 p.m. on a Sabres game night the only business open is Archives Pub. Morgan Genovese is leading from the front. Montante Development sets rents so high a building like Power City Eatery, which could be a viable concern, becomes unrentable. That failed rebirth of Third Street is happening on Vilardo’s watch. It is a failure for USA Niagara. When does Hammer & Crown Brewing open?

The list of investments from USAN include some that have come and gone, like TGI Fridays. Still, embrace the bad, the good, and the hope for the future. When do we rename the power plant for Parkhurst Whitney, Harriet Tubman or some other decent human like Chief Clinton Rickard rather than Robert Moses, horrible human being. (The Tuscarora aren't getting the land where the reservoir is back. The Dodgers aren't going back to Brooklyn, either.)

Click here to visit www.niagaraexpress.town.news and to read what Vilardo had to say.

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“In Depth” is an ongoing series. The next several interviews will include sitdowns with Mayor Restaino (my 4th. I will keep doing it monthly until either he turns the city around, loses election or refuses to give me an appointment. No questions are off limits. We don't always agree but we both love this city and want to see it in a better place.)

Also on the calendar are Sara Capen, Mark Laurrie and Don King. I didn’t get to Earl Bass, Stan Wojton, Arlene Doss or Demetreus Nix yet either. Suggestions for future sitdowns, and questions for leaders are always welcome. It is summer so I will be busy as a tour guide, but in time. I still have my Allstate job, too, (let me know if you need help with some life insurance or deciding what to do with that old IRA).

My lovely wife Beth tolerates my madness and sometimes let’s me ramble at her at length as I work things through.

It’s like Bass said to me one day when I wished he could win a million dollars I could invest for him. “If you speak it, it can happen.”

The rebirth of Niagara Falls can happen. We are in this together because as Nix says, “We All We Got.”

In depth with Anthony Vilardo

We met in the 7th Floor offices of USA Niagara (USAN), the state’s development agency for downtown Niagara Falls.

Out the window in one direction rest 3 major construction projects including Hotel Niagara, The Canal Heritage Gateway, Community Services4 All and the Presbyterian church. Out the window in the other direction is the whitewashed Turtle, undergoing demolition by neglect at the hands of Niagara Falls Redevelopment. (Editor’s note: Should we rename NFR Niagara Falls Never Development? If you see a red and white trespassing sign, know it stands for no hope, imagination or improvement. They will mow the lawn, pay the taxes and hope for a ship that never reaches port.)

Answers here, unless in quotes, are paraphrased to reflect an accurate answer, not a direct transcription.

Does USAN have an annual budget? Who decides what gets funded?

There is an operations and capital budget approved in March by the USAN board as part of the Empire State Development capital; budget. A variety of projects are funded. Some funding comes from the 2nd Buffalo Billion.

What is going on with Third Street? Between the old Gazette, the new Gazette building, the Niagara Mohawk Building and the Imperial Garage there is literally nothing going on. How does this make sense?

Ellicott Development is working on the current Gazette Building at Third and Ferry where the businesses operation will consolidate on the first floor. It appears as if the Radio Social plan is dead. Montante is trying to find a new project for the space but it is very hard. There is a clawback provision but if USAN executed it it would likely make no difference because no developer is interested. (Editor’s note, no sarcasm: A 12 minute walk from the state park? How is this possible? There is no developer interest? This is the dumbest thing since the state built its visitor’s center inside the park rather than inside the city. C'est quoi ce bordel (WTF in French.)

Overall, people say there is nothing going on downtown. It’s hard not to agree. How do you answer that?

“I hear the same thing but in my lifetime, the downtown core has never looked better.

“Think back to 1999. On Falls Street, we had the Lackey Plaza, the east pedestrian mall, the west pedestrian mall, the decaying Wintergarden. The only business open was Tommy Ryans. The only hotel was the Hilton. We have added 793 rooms since and transformed three blocks. There are 15 new businesses open. We haven’t done a good enough job of letting the world know.”

When the Heritage Gateway is opened, who operates it?

The State is building it on city parkland. The city will control the amphitheater. On the other side of Main Street, a new park paying tribute to the Hydraulic Canal will be state-controlled. Yes, the city asked for the amphitheater. The project was delayed slightly by unexpected utility work but that was resolved with the installation of a vault a short time ago. On the amphitheater, construction on seat walls is about to start but may be delayed because rebar hasn’t arrived on site. It should be open in the summer or 2027.

What’s going on with Cataract Park on the site of the Cataract Hotel, the famous stop on the Underground Railroad?

The project is in the design phase. There will be community meetings and additional input but eventually there will be an interpretive installation at the park that commemorates the Cataract House Hotel which is regarded as one of the important sites on the Underground Railroad. The Tree Walk is still in the design phase as well. (Editor’s note: The tree walk will be an elevated structure on Buffalo Avenue that takes advantage of hillside elevation to allow visitors to stroll at treetop level and get an unprecedented view of the American Rapids.)

What’s going on with the Freedom Plaza on the former Suspension Bridge site adjacent to the Whirlpool Bridge?

It is part of the Downtown Redevelopment Initiative not directly connected to USAN. (Editor’s note: Yes, that’s another honeypot of tax dollars controlled by Empire State Development, not USAN. Roughly $40 million in public and private money is committed to the Suspension Bridge District with significant other investment on the horizon. Not a fantasy. Real projects happening. As for Freedom Plaza, it is funded through the Downtown Redevelopment initiative. The DRI, state funded, was $10 million from New York State. Some elements happened, like DiCamillo’s improving its baking facilities and the Heritage area painting endless murals. Other projects, like helping Blue Cardinal redevelop buildings as part of projects for which it could never find post-covid funding, stalled. The money sits with New York State. You will soon see streetscape work in the near future. Of course, adjusting for inflation, those $10 million tax dollars today buy as much as $8 million did 5 years ago because things move with the speed of government and inflation erodes spending power.)

How is the Community Services for Every1 project coming?

The foundation is being poured. Work is progressing. “It is important to have people living downtown.” We just had a ribbon cutting for Steelbound Brewing. Potential investors know they will do well in summer but question what they do in winter. Critical mass happens when more people live nearby.

How is Hotel Niagara progressing?

They started work in December. The ballroom roof is done. They are now working on the upper roof. The first phase of the project is a lot of unglamorous stuff like elevators, plumbing, HVAC and roofing. When you consider the owner and the delay in the project, it is important to understand the amount of money in “holding costs” just keeping the historic building as buttoned up and static as possible. The $58.8 million development will end with a 160-room upscale hotel with restaurants, lounges and banquet facilities.

What’s up with Montante and Third Street? Is Radio Social dead?

The Niagara Hudson and Imperial Garage buildings both are status quo for the time being because Montante wasn’t able to raise enough private equity funding to make it a go. “A clawback clause exists, but what assurance do we have that that would be any better?”

What can you tell me about the Niagara Falls City Market?

Flynn Battaglia was retained as the architect. Design will wrap up soon. Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati was more downtrodden than Little Italy is today and has been reimagined, with a market at its core, becoming a vibrant, thriving community. The Falls project is not the same size or scale but it also is framed by the $8 million investment into the theatre at the Niagara Arts and Culture Center just a few blocks away.

What’s going on with Main Street and the Suspension Bridge District?

It’s not USAN but Empire State Development where Karen Utz is Western New York Regional Director. (Editor’s note: Utz is from the Falls and went to school with Mayor Restaino. In the grand scheme of things, Vilardo is a fly. Utz is the Queen Mother. The Express did not speak to Vilardo about Utz.) “The city’s approach to Main Street has been really, really smart. As Bob Rich said, why doesn’t anyone believe? People need to see a guy in a hardhat.”

(Editor’s note: In the state bureaucracy, there is ESD, USAN, Erie Canal Harbor Development and the Erie County Stadium Corporation. All likely currently get more funding than if we didn’t have a governor who values and appreciates the Niagara Region. Every entity but USAN overemphasizes Buffalo, a dying city mostly known for an NFL team playing in a second ring suburb. We are the Niagara Region. Buffalo is our mostly useless weak stepbrother. Sorry if that is redundant but it is real.)

What do you think about Visit Buffalo changing its name to exclude a wonder of the world and to show no images marketing Niagara Falls at the Buffalo Airport?

That is a question for the folks in Buffalo. Our important thing is the train station in Niagara Falls is set up for the GO train. We have to think forward.

When Sam Hoyt was around, it was all about the Turtle. What happened? What does USAN have to say about it? What is your policy?

We have no policy. It is a privately held property. USAN is happy to support the Friends of the Turtle or the current owner with plans for anything.

What is up with the Rainbow Mall?

The city owns it. USAN did preliminary design work in partnership with the city. It is all about finding tenants.

What about the aerospace museum plans to move downtown?

The Niagara Aerospace Museum did an RFP “open procurement” to try and identify where it could fit downtown. Our aviation history gives them a good reason to be in Niagara Falls.

What can you say about the removal of the remainder of the carcass of Robert Moses Parkway?

It has started, but the next section is from Findlay Drive to Center Street in Lewiston. There are multiple jurisdictions involved and the New York Power Authority needs to replace its bridges in conjunction. There is a chance for federal funding under the National Environmental Policy Act but it is complicated.

And with that, I reached the end of my questions. My friend Mark Scheer can write about Urbacon and Centennial Park until both projects are dead or the Gazette stops publishing. The Express will be over here, writing about things that are actually happening.

Sure we need to fix that abandoned house on 5th Street, pick up the litter in front of Slipko’s on Main Street and force Niagara Falls Redevelopment to do something with its properties but in spite of that, a lot of good things and meaningful development are happening. Now when do we start work on Beech Avenue Park and the rebirth of Highland Avenue? So much potential, so little time. Our time here is short. Let’s leave it a better place.

–30-- 

(One final note, for those who made it this far. I don't usually end with --30-- which is an old-timey newspaper thing like "lede" but sheesh, I had to. Oh and to paraphrase my buddy Mark Twain, sorry what I wrote was so long, I didn't have time to write anything good. And as Abe Lincoln said, I still have an idiot for an editor)