Flowing slowly

Chris Ring and Dale Segal thought it was going to be simple. Get title to the Rapids Theatre. Do some quick renovations. The goal was to have a soft opening by Thanksgiving or so and be ready for a full go next year. It is not happening that way.

The After Dark Entertainment operators have instead received an education in the speed of government and big business. It has been a rude awakening but Ring said via phone Wednesday he and partner Dale Segal are pushing forward.

Not that After Dark doesn't have enough to keep busy. It is, however, a major promoter in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. Between now and Dec. 19, there are 82 After Dark shows listed at https://afterdarkpresents.com/events. Do the math and After Dark is running a bar and club on Chippewa Street and promoting more than 340 shows a year.

Framed by that reality, a get-things-done guy like Ring, who spoke to the Express via phone Wednesday, gets frustrated. Major renovation on the theatre can’t start until after the less sexy stuff happens. That “less sexy stuff” means fixing the roof. Making sure the heating system is good. Installing new lights and sound. 

There are state taxpayer funds available to help with much of the work but that requires a 501C(3) as well as up-front funding.

“Navigating the waters of grant money is something that I'm just unfamiliar with, and there's benefits of the city still owning it. I say the city, by that might, it might be NORLIC (Niagara Orleans Land Improvement Corporation.)

“The city proper, I don't know the organization, but there's a benefit where if the municipality or the governing agency holds the property, they are able to do work, like winterize the building, for example, the roof work, yeah, first, and then be reimbursed by the grant.

“Me, as the grantee, I have to wait until I get approved for the grants before I can start doing work” Ring said. “There are a ton of grants, from New York State, from Niagara Falls, from the Power Authority, from the Cataract Fund, from a million different entities.

“And like I said, it's not, I'm not hiding behind any cloak or anything. We don't know grants.

“We're really leaning on on the city and their partners to kind of navigate us and work with us.”

The most pressing thing is to fix the roof, which leaked last year and ruined the floors but thankfully not the ceiling in the main portion of the theatre.

“The city hasn't done any work to the building,” Ring said. “The only work that's happened in the building is it's cleaned out.”

As for financing, Ring said the developers have a line of credit available so when things are ready to go, he will be able to get things done but he has to maintain the appropriate order. He’s been working with Morgan Genovese and Niagara County to move forward.

The way development grants work is often misunderstood. Most of it means reimbursement. The developer has to complete the work and then get reimbursed.

Phase 1 of the project will be to get the theater renovated and open, with the bar relocated to the outside walls rather than crowding the center of the room.

Phase 2 will be to acquire the building next door at 1701 Main St. which the city may be in the process of acquiring. 

The theatre was one of 39 properties the city’s Urban Renewal Agency acquired in foreclosure in June of 2025. The Rapids was one of 4 projects announced in April.

The renovation of the former Club Fusion appears to be furthest along, with windows replaced and interior work being completed.

Other properties have had numerous inquiries and are close to contract according to an interview with Genovese several weeks ago. Projects are vetted by the Urban Renewal Agency, Empire State Development, Niagara Orleans Land Improvement Corporation and IDA. Projects are objectively scored and every developer gets one project at a time.

Ring and Segal won the contract over a competing proposal of Jesse Gooch, a Republican Niagara County Legislator who owns a painting company and promotes cover bands in a North Tonawanda concert series.

The city is using grant money to complete roof and facade repairs on several buildings prior to winter.

As for Ring, is he feeling optimistic about it or just a little frustrated?

“You know, I was frustrated, but what do you know?

I can be patient,” he said. “The half full of this is, you know, getting the money that we need to really do this build out properly and really make it the opportunity that it needs to be to compete with the House of Blues and the other beautiful venues that are opening up, you know, in the Northeast.”