Genesee County Data Center a Go While Niagara Falls Mayor Fumbles Tech Opportunity

By Tony Farina

As the surge for data centers continues across the country, there is absolutely no movement in that direction by the City of Niagara Falls which is continuing to ignore the enormous benefits and economic relief a data center would bring to the city and taxpayers if only city administration would take a good look at NFR’s detailed $1.5 billion data center proposal which is there for the taking, it appears, and does not require huge taxpayer and government subsidies to build.

The entire cost of the NFR digital campus on South End land NFR believes it still owns, would be borne by the developers, NFR and its Canadian partner on the proposed project, Urbacon. The city claims it owns the land but that issue is not yet finally decided and if the city does not own the parcel, it would have to buy it with taxpayer money.

Meanwhile, just a few miles away, the Genesee County Economic Development Center has reportedly given the green light to a massive data center project to locate at its STAMP industrial park north of Batavia with a reported $472 million government subsidized package, primarily sales tax exemptions on computer equipment and an abatement on mortgage taxes. According to published reports, the subsidies total $3.9 million per job. Additional subsidies including state tax credits and low-cost hydro power from the New York Power Authority is also a possibility.

There you have it in a nutshell. Excuse the slang but it does wrap it up nicely. Meanwhile the city administration of Mayor Robert Restaino is continuing to push for a $150 Centennial Park project on the South End land where the digital campus would be built and as far as anyone knows, there is no funding and not even a certain tenant for the Restaino park and job creation would be minimal and much less lucrative than data center jobs. Low paying jobs compared to high-paying tech jobs.

As has been widely reported, data centers can bring significant economic benefits like job creation during construction and operation, increased tax revenue from large facilities, and the potential for attracting other tech businesses to the area. And Niagara Falls, with its large water and power resources, is a perfect location for a data center that NFR wants to build at no cost to the public. That’s a $1.5 billion data campus that won’t require massive taxpayer money and all the rest of the subsidies that Genesee County will require to do that development.

No one knows for sure if the Genesee County project will actually be built but the fanfare already being generated by the progress reported so far is probably worth a sparkling bubbly champagne party for the interests farther east of the Falls while the Cataract City can’t seem to get out of its own way.

It is a clear picture for all to see. Niagara Falls fights over land to build a small sports park while the huge developer, NFR, sits with its hands tied behind its back because the city won’t test the potential of the project. Now is the time to put NFR to the test because the potential economic benefits for Niagara Falls are just too incredible to ignore. Maybe what Genesee County is doing will light a fire under the Restaino Administration, city lawmakers, and other government leadership to push them to take another look at NFR’s Niagara Digital Campus package before it is too little
too late to the party!

How many more missed opportunities loom for Niagara Falls? Missing out on the tech wave that would cost taxpayers nothing to develop and bring high paying jobs and tax benefits would be the crown jewel of the Niagara Falls’ failures.