Niagara Falls Development Dreams in Limbo Despite Urban Renewal Agency Funds
By Tony Farina
New York State has a structural budget deficit with a three-year budget gap of $13.9 billion projected and it is expected to increase further as stop-gap tax measures phase out and public education and health care costs continue to grow.
Many experts see the problem as state spending which they say continues to spiral out of control and the heavy reliance on federal aid may be cause for concern with Donald Trump in the White House come next year.
In short, given the budget gaps and a new president, it is unlikely the state will be in a position to pour dollars into the Niagara Falls development business and the state has already pulled $1.6 million in funds earmarked under the Cuomo administration for the private equity firm Blue Cardinal for projects in Niagara Falls, including 38 Main St. properties, including the Rapids Theater, as part of a grand redevelopment pitch.
Nonetheless, the mayor of Niagara Falls is proceeding with the acquisition and wants to use Urban Renewal Agency dollars which have been approved to transfer funds ($1.7 million) to buy those Blue Cardinal properties with no announced developers in sight and stalled rumors showing no signs of becoming reality like a housing partnership with Niagara University.
According to a Niagara Gazette story Thursday, the URA board has approved a committee made up of officials from Empire State Development, Niagara County, the local land bank, the mayor of Niagara Falls and two members of the City Council, to “vet” proposed projects to revitalize and restore the Rapids and develop the large, vacant Blue Cardinal properties, and report monthly to the full Niagara Falls Urban Renewal Agency board.
However, with the likelihood of state dollars flowing into the Niagara Falls development business seemingly on hold given the state’s deficit numbers — and that goes for the mayor’s unfunded $150 million events center — where will the public money come from to fuel these development dreams?
And no developers or projected tenants have come to the public’s attention at this point. How does that translate into a robust development business for Niagara Falls? It doesn’t and that’s the problem.
Niagara Falls taxpayers need help and that help does not come from undeveloped properties and uncertain public assistance, meaning taxpayers will be on the hook for whatever efforts are undertaken with no private developers in sight or being enticed by the city to take up the development needs.
The state will have its own budget problems in the future with Trump’s New York agenda still uncertain and remember, New York did not vote for Trump. He remembers.
It is time for Niagara Falls leaders to look in a different direction to try and stimulate the city and try a different path, enticing developers by streamlining the development process for them to jump through the hoops that lead to a growing city. It is just not happening now and using taxpayer money to buy troubled Blue Cardinal properties is probably not the answer. What’s next in terms of funding as there isn’t any private development funding for the tens of millions needed.
The mayor’s unfunded South End events center is not the answer, a little late for the arena game and too costly to develop with no tenant in sight.
That’s pretty much where the city is in the development business. No plan, no private developers on the scene, and state aid in limbo. The $1.5 billion Niagara Digital campus that Niagara Falls Redevelopment wants to build in the South End on property they own and will pay to develop, bringing jobs and lots of tax money into the city, remains the best visible option.
