Niagara Falls Sitting on the Edge Of Another Huge Missed Opportunity

By Tony Farina

I’ll begin this piece by saying what I’ve written before many times, that data centers could bring huge economic benefits to the city of Niagara Falls if somehow the fighting over who owns the South End parcel where it could potentially be built is somehow resolved, paving the way for a better future for the people and taxpayers of the Cataract City.

As the surge for data centers across the country continues, the reason is clear for all to see.  As has been reported all over the internet, data centers can bring significant economic benefits like job creation during construction and operation, increased tax revenue from large facilities, and 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 on the South End parcel in the middle of the ownership battle.

The potential economic gain was spelled out as clear as the light of day by NFR last October when it submitted a proposal to the city to construct a $1.5 billion data center campus on the South End site in question in partnership with Toronto-based Urbacon and here we are in February apparently no closer to anything that would lead to a firm commitment for the use of the property to economically help taxpayers and the city in some many ways.

Mayor Robert Restaino plans to sue NFR claiming it already owns 4.5 acres of the 12 acres of the South End parcel in dispute even though it has already advanced eminent domain procedures to “reclaim” the property and even though NFR’s spokesman James Hagerty referenced a city court filing during the eminent domain fight where the city admitted NFR “are the owners of the referenced parcels.”

The mayor, with the council in his hands, wants to build a $150 million Centennial Park legacy project for which he has no tenant or known financial resources, turning the city’s back on the $1.5 billion data center project that would not cost taxpayers a dime and which would bring huge economic benefit across the board to a city that certainly needs it.

The way to go seems a no brainer yet the mayor’s council voted 4 to 1 to make the transfer of the South End property to the city complete, maintaining NFR didn’t properly take control of the property even though it referenced in its court filing in the eminent domain battle that NFR owned the property.

If the city, 21 years after the fact, continues to follow through with a lawsuit, it is certain to cost the city millions more in legal fees with no end in sight as NFR unlikely to fold its cae.

This is more than a potential missed opportunity for Niagara Falls. It is a failure of city leadership at the highest levels that could follow the city’s misfortune for years to come.