NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Plans a for new community event campus in Niagara Falls have been released.
Mayor Robert Restaino invited stakeholders to discuss the plans and present initial renderings of what the facility will have to offer.
Plans include space for sports, concerts, outdoor green space, rock climbing wall, ropes course, and winter activities like ice skating and sledding. The intention to create attractions that will draw people in year around and provide entertainment beyond Niagara Falls State Park.
“I would simply invite everyone to recognize that this isn’t a silver bullet,” said Restaino. “But as we do all of the things that we’ve been talking about, whether it’s the reimagining of the Rainbow Center, or the continued investment in some of the properties that are downtown in the hospitality core, this is another piece of that puzzle. What this does is it continues to create opportunities for growth.”
Andria Klyczek of the Niagara County Center for Economic Development sees that there is the possibility to attract Canadian citizens.
“I think that we have a huge Canadian market that we have not done a good enough job tapping into,” says Klyczek. “And the greater GTA [Greater Toronto Area] is exploding with population and it’s only natural that they’re going to come across the border and the more things that we have to offer them, the better it will be for us, and it will better the experience we’ll be able to offer our Canadian friends."
This meeting was one of seven stakeholder meetings.
Investment from the state will be requested to help the project cost less than other entertainment facilities in Western New York.