CASINO NIAGARA TO STAY?

~ CASINO'S FUTURE SECURED ~

Casino Niagara is here to stay. The Ontario government reached a long-term arrangement with owners of the casino's current location Friday and will make it official within days, Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor said Friday afternoon."By some time next week there will be a formal announcement," Craitor said after a closed-door meeting held at city hall Friday afternoon among Ontario Lottery and Gaming representatives, city officials and business owners from the Clifton Hill area. "Everything seems to have fallen in place."OLG's lease with Canadian Niagara Hotels expires in March 2010. There's an option for a five-year renewal. It has to be exercised by March 2008. City council, the Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce and tourism operators have pushed for months to have the province exercise that option sooner, rather than later. They've also lobbied to extend the term from five years to something longer than five years. The agreement reached Friday means the province won't wait until next spring to extend the lease. "We actually expedited the process. To make the community feel at ease ... to make the region feel at ease, we expedited the process," Craitor said. He wouldn't disclose how long a term had been negotiated, saying only it was longer than the five-year extension that would have secured Casino Niagara as a tenant at the old Maple Leaf Village site until 2015. A 10-year agreement beyond the existing 2010 expiration would ensure the casino's presence until 2020. Craitor's rivals in the Oct. 10 election called the timing "suspect," suggesting the Liberals were trying to use the deal to score points during a campaign. "I'm delighted any time they want to reaffirm our position of keeping both casinos open permanently," said Conservative candidate Bart Maves. When his party was in power in 2003, then-premier Ernie Eves announced Casino Niagara would remain open. It was meant to be a temporary operation from 1996 until the permanent Fallsview casino could open. New Democrat Mike Piche agreed about the timing. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that all out. It's kind of suspect," Piche said. But Piche welcomed the news because it should add some stability to the local economy. "It gives people in Niagara, especially the workers in these places, the knowledge they'll be working for the next number of years," Piche said. Reaching a deal during an election campaign is "just a coincidence," said Craitor, a Liberal MPP running for re-election. But he will ask Premier Dalton McGuinty to formally make the announcement next week, he added. Mayor Ted Salci agreed it was an "opportune time" for the Liberals to reach a deal, but said the pressure has been on the government for two years. "We were pressing the government to come to terms with the landlord. They have had fruitful discussions," Salci said. There have been dozens of meetings over the past two years involving city hall's so-called "two-casino initiative," a committee of tourism operators, and city and regional officials who promoted the importance of having two casinos. The lease agreement - once it's formalized - should remove the uncertainty that has troubled the business community in Niagara Falls. In mid-August, Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce president Carolyn Bones wrote to McGuinty. "In our view, both casinos in Niagara Falls are significant to the attraction of visitors. The casinos are an integral part of continued tourism development in Niagara Falls and Niagara as a whole," Bones wrote. The chamber was reacting to persistent rumours either OLG or Falls Management Co., the company hired to run the casinos, want to close Casino Niagara. I certainly have heard the rumours and speculation around town," Bones said. Despite local concerns, the official word from Queen's Park - from politicians of all stripes - is that none of the political parties is considering closing the casino. McGuinty, Conservative Leader John Tory and NDP house leader Peter Kormos have all told The Review recently their parties don't have plans to close Casino Niagara. "The McGuinty government has never talked about closing Casino Niagara," a spokeswoman in the premier's office said in mid-August. On Aug. 14, Tory said, "There's no one I've heard of, including me, that has any plans to close any casinos." Kormos, the MPP for Niagara Centre, said his party isn't interested in closing Casino Niagara or any other, either. Those jobs have become increasingly important jobs to the Niagara area, Windsor and Orillia area," Kormos said. Businesses around the casino have wanted the government's commitment to give them the stability they need for long-term planning. "The issue is they're all saying yes, yes, yes, but nobody's taking any action to make the commitment and take the action," said Canadian Niagara Hotels vice-president Dino DiCienzo Jr., said in a recent interview. DiCienzo also sits on the city's two-casinos committee. "A long-term commitment is important, so the business can move with a long-term business plan and commitment to the staff," he said.

Files from the Niagara Falls Review

IF THEY BUILD IT, WILL THEY COME?

COUNCIL APPROVES 30 STORY HOTEL

Hoteliers Victor and Carmen Menechella will be allowed to build one of the Fallsview area's densest hotels despite the objections of the city's planning department and its next-door neighbour. "As it sits here, I think it's not a bad idea. It's a smart idea and it fits nicely," Coun. Jim Diodati said moments before councillors voted 5-2 Monday to give the Menechellas the green light to build a new Hampton Inn at 6505 Fallsview Blvd. They also own the nearby Embassy Suites hotel. City council gave them the green light to build a 30-storey, 383-room hotel, north of Dixon Street on a site that's less than a half-acre. Previous zoning would have allowed only a four-storey structure. City planner Doug Darbyson told council the proposal was more dense than any other hotel in the city, did not have adequate setbacks from the road and would create wind conditions that would be "uncomfortable" for pedestrians in the area. "The proposal significantly exceeds the density of other developments in the tourist area and represents an overdevelopment of the site," Darbyson's report to council states. At a density of 910 rooms per acre, the Hampton would be more dense than the Embassy Suites, which has 400 rooms an acre, Darbyson said. "We have not really seen density of this magnitude in our city on such small pieces of land," he said. The hotel is expected to create 2,000 construction jobs, 500 permanent hotel jobs and "impressive perpetual tax revenue" for the city, said Italia Gilberti, the lawyer for the Menechellas. She reminded council its development guidelines are only guidelines. Because of the size of the property - a portion of a triangular area bordered by Fallsview Boulevard, Dixon Street and Main Street - it would be difficult to build anything on it that adheres to city guidelines. "This is exactly where this type of development should be built and is needed," Gilberti said. The Hampton Inn would represent an investment of between $50 million and $100 million, Gilberti said. The Menechellas are ready to build immediately and construction could take a year and a half, she added. "This one's extremely expensive," she said after the meeting, adding the franchise sets high standards for its hotels. "The location calls for something special." Approving the hotel project went against the city's development guidelines for the tourist area, said Coun. Janice Wing, one of two votes against the project. "This could set an undesirable precedent for future developments," Wing said. Peter Pickfield, a lawyer for Helias Enterprises said the Hampton project threatened the viability of a project his clients were planning to the south. "It doesn't comply with the rules of the game, here," he said. "There needs to be something done to integrate these two developments." Pickfield could not convince council to turn it down or at least to wait for six weeks while Helias Enterprises studied the impact of the Hampton. "This is really cramming a building in to get the maximum number of hotel units in and using not good planning to do it," Pickfield said.

FINAL PIECE OF THE PUZZLE

~ OTTAWA COMES THROUGH ~

Ottawa's in. The federal government will contribute one-third of the $100-million cost to build the Niagara Convention and Civic Centre, Niagara Falls MP Rob Nicholson announced Wednesday."There is no doubt in my mind this will help strengthen the economy of this area," Nicholson said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. "This is that other piece of the puzzle we want to have ... We need to have a facility that can handle large conventions."We are a perfect fit." A group of local businesses, the provincial and federal governments have now agreed to contribute $35 million each to build a convention centre near the southwest corner of Stanley Avenue and Dunn Street.Now that funding sources are finalized, the project can move ahead, said Dragan Matovic, a golf course owner who is also the co-ordinator of the convention centre project. Construction could begin within a year and the convention centre could open as early as 2010, he said.The strength of the business plan Matovic's group presented is one of the reasons the project got the federal government's approval, Nicholson said."It's no secret every member of Parliament in the country wants $35 million in investment in their constituency. Niagara Falls is the perfect place to put this," he said. Mayor Ted Salci called Nicholson's announcement "truly spectacular news" because a convention centre will increase year-round tourism and create more jobs. Salci said he will ask council to create a committee to look at ways to make sure construction overruns or annual operating deficits don't become a burden on the public. Because it's being built with cash, the building won't have a debt. That's important to taxpayers because the city will own the building after construction and lease it back to Matovic's group to manage. When the partners hire a builder, they will insist the centre be built for a price specified before construction. That would make the builder responsible for overruns, Matovic said. Also, the private-sector partners have created a $15-million fund they will draw on to offset any deficits in the first five years of operation, Matovic said. Ottawa's cash will come from the existing Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund, a federal program used to fund large infrastructure projects the government believes will encourage economic growth and support environmental sustainability. Tourism operators look forward to something to encourage more people to visit. "Certainly, everybody I've spoken to says we need to diversify our mix of tourists," Matovic said. Conventions are typically held in the September-to-May period - the off-season for traditional tourism. There's a lot of convention business to be had, but Niagara Falls has not been able to tap the market because there isn't a place big enough to hold a convention of 2,000 or more people, Matovic said. "We're just touching the tip of the iceberg out there," he said. Nicholson's formal announcement came after months of speculation Ottawa would match the funding Ontario finance minister Greg Sorbara included in the provincial budget in March. A group of two dozen business people and politicians at the Sheraton Fallsview hotel stood and applauded after Nicholson confirmed the funding, a courtesy chamber of commerce members gave Liberal MPP Kim Craitor at a breakfast meeting the day after Sorbara's provincial budget. Craitor congratulated the federal government for joining in. "It puts the community at ease. The final piece of the puzzle has been finalized," he said. For years, civic and business leaders have referred to a convention centre as the "missing piece of the puzzle" to encourage off-season tourism. "There's always a period when things come together. The timing is right, now," said Coun. Wayne Thomson, who championed the convention centre concept when he was mayor before 2003. But the "puzzle" might never be completed. There are other pieces to come, Thomson said. "We only have one more thing to make it a first-class, world-class destination and that's the people mover," the long-awaited mass-transit system that would alleviate congestion in the crowded tourism areas. Files from the Niagara Falls Review

FALLSVIEW PLAZA HOTEL PROPOSAL

UPDATE: As mentioned by Drafty in the comments section of this post, it was recommended that staff turn down this proposal due to various reasons. However not unanimous, it was passed and did receive approval in the city chambers tonight by council. If anyone would like further information on the meeting I would be happy to add more comments!

~ LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION ~

It has been brought up and discussed by Dan and Drafty about this proposed hotel which again I have meant to mention since I first noticed the public notice board up. "An application to permit the development of a 30 storey, 383 room hotel (without meeting rooms) and with a majority of the required parking off-site on the existing parking lot at 5896-6046 Dunn Street." This one was rather exciting when I saw it, because last year I was playing ball hockey with some friends and one of the guys was talking about a proposed 20 story hotel going up in this location, which is apparently owned by the same owners as Embassy Suites. I had mentioned it here at SkyScrapercity and here at Skyscraperpage. This above image shows the East and North elevation and will stand at over 108 metres which is about the height of the existing Hilton Hotel, this will really fill in this section of Fallsview.

MARRIOTT COURTYARD "UPDATE"

UPDATE: Received city council's approval tonight and will move on to the review board for final adjustments.

~ PUBLIC NOTICE ~

It has been put up for quite awhile now but better late then never! As mentioned by Drafty in an earlier comment there is a Public Notice up at the Marriott Courtyard which more or less reads... "5950 Victoria Avenue and 5956 Clark Street An application to include the lands known as 5956 Clark Street in a 30 storey hotel complex proposed to be developed on 5950 Victoria Avenue." The bottom image shows the footprint of the proposed hotel.