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Falls Street Revived
 

May 7, 2010

by James Fink

After more than $65 million in private- and public-sector investments in the past six years, a key stretch of Falls Street in Niagara Falls is poised to reopen.

Falls Street, from First Street to the gateway of Niagara Reservation State Park, will open May 22 in the latest phase of an effort by USA Niagara Development Corp. to make Niagara Falls more attractive to tourists and investors. Falls Street between Third and First streets reopened to vehicular and pedestrian traffic four years ago.

The current phase saw the Wintergarden, which stood as a visual and physical impediment on Falls Street, demolished and the street reopened. USA Niagara spent $7.9 million to buy and raze the glass atrium-like Wintergarden and rebuild the street.

“The end result is we now have that physical and visual connection between Third Street and the park,” said Chris Schoepflin, USA Niagara president.

Third Street is the front door to Conference Center Niagara Falls and the Crowne Plaza Hotel, both of which were part of USA Niagara’s Fall Street revival effort. Third Street also borders the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel.

“We have two good anchors on Third Street,” Schoepflin said of the conference center and 391-room hotel.

Conference Center Niagara Falls opened in 2004 and annually welcomes more than 200 events, bringing in $3 million in revenue. The Crowne Plaza is the host hotel for many of the events at the 100,000-square-foot conference center.

Schoepflin said USA Niagara’s focus is to fill in what he calls “the edges” of Falls Street – the storefronts with small retailers and restaurants.

To help build critical mass needed to fill the storefronts, USA Niagara will put together a series of special events aimed at attracting people to the three-block stretch.

Events range from food and wine festivals to a barbecue cook-off and daily storybook readings for children. Live music also is planned.

“We had to take care of the construction first,” Schoepflin said. “There’s no way we could attract private dollars until we addressed the public realm.”

USA Niagara is taking one of the first steps to attract interest from private-sector developers. It is seeking bids on the former Power City Building, a four-story, 41,300-square-foot structure at Falls and Third streets.

The bids are due May 14 and are expected to be awarded by June 18.