BUFFALO, N.Y. — As Uniland Development Company marked the recognition of their Delaware North building by the U.S. Green Building Council, Uniland Vice President Michael J. Montante recalled how it only took three years to construct.
But it's taken much longer than that for Uniland to get another development in Niagara Falls even off the ground.
Wondering about Wonder Falls
In August, 2014, Governor Cuomo announced Uniland as the preferred developer of Wonder Falls, a $150 million project to turn the former and long-vacant Rainbow Centre Mall into a world class tourist attraction, with a 15-story hotel, indoor water park, and Nick Walenda Daredevil Museum.
“1,500 construction jobs, and 300 permanent jobs. That's what's going to be there!” Cuomo exclaimed, regarding the moribund former shopping center that has sat vacant in the heart of the Niagara Falls tourist district for nearly 20 years.
More than five years after Cuomo’s pronouncement, none of that has materialized.
“It’s still in the works, but we are working through some tax issues on that,” Montante told WGRZ-TV on Thursday.
Unforeseen circumstance
Montante explained that after the Federal tax reforms passed in 2017, the assistance the state was prepared to offer Uniland in the form of loans, grants, or tax abatements, now has to be considered as income.
According to Montante, while this has not killed the project, it has left the developer to reconfigure its plan in order to make the numbers work.
“And once we get though that with State of New York then we can move forward," Montante said.
However, 2 On Your Side was also told by a source close to the project that there may be some issues with some other numbers, specifically the state's long-stated and repeated claim that there are 8 million visitors to this side of the Falls on an annual basis.
It is, of course, an estimate, as there are no turnstiles measuring the number those who actually come to the Falls.
The figure is extracted based on several numbers which can be measured, including but not limited to gate receipts at the parking lot at Niagara Falls State Park and at certain attractions such as the Cave of the Winds tour and the Maid of the Mist, surveys of hotels, and police estimates of crowds during special events.
Montante demurred when asked if his company got involved in the project based on the state’s estimate of the number of tourists as opposed to what his company’s research may have shown.
“I think one day there will be 8 million visitors. I think that would be a good goal to reach,” Montante said, while praising the state for the efforts it’s made to increase the number of visitors. “I think the more visitors you get to Niagara Falls it will create more development and that is the goal.”