08-04-2025
State officials say Hotel Niagara deal still in the works
The Hotel Niagara officially opened for business in downtown Niagara Falls on April 8, 1925.
On the eve of the 100-year anniversary of that date, officials representing a state-run development agency in Niagara Falls say they're still working with a developer interested in reopening the hotel for the first time in decades.
'The Empire State Development Corp. continues to work with Brine Wells to get the project started. We are hopeful that work will begin soon,' the agency said in response to a request for an update on the long-delayed hotel project.
The landmark Hotel Niagara building, which was listed on the National List of Historic Places in 2008, was built by Falls businessman Frank A. Dudley and designed by the Western New York architectural firm Esenwein & Johnson.
GUEST VIEW: Hotel Niagara, 1938: Poetry, Politics, and Civic Engagement
It was disheartening to see a shattered glass door at the entrance to the Hotel Niagara recently, close to the 100th anniversary of its official opening, on April 8, 1925. But the promise of the hotel's restoration provides an occasion to recover its past as a place of civic and social engagement and a city's ideals. Stories circulate of celebrity figures whose legendary lives lend an aura of glamour and intrigue to the hotel's history. The visit of the widely admired twentieth-century American poet Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) is less known, however. When he lectured in the ballroom, on the evening of December 6, 1938, he echoed the aspirations of communal action upon which the hotel was founded, and he did so at a moment when democracy was under threat globally.
The 12-story steel frame and concrete hotel, located on Rainbow Boulevard, was constructed in 1924 and dedicated on April 8 the following year. From opening as the Hotel Niagara in 1925, the hotel operated for decades under various names, including John's Niagara Hotel, the Park's Inn, the International, Days Inn-Falls View and Travelodge Niagara Falls.
The hotel closed in 2007 for renovations that were never completed. Three years later, the State Bank of Texas foreclosed on the property after it was abandoned by its former owners, Amidee Hotels & Resorts.
Since then, the property has been subject to numerous sales as well as development plans that never came to pass.
Vancouver developer Jamil Kara purchased the property for $1.25 million at a foreclosure auction in April 2011 for $1.25 million. In September of that year, the building was sold to Toronto developer Harry Stinson. In March 2016, USA Niagara Development Corp., a Falls-based subsidiary of ESD, announced that it had reached an agreement to buy the property from Stinson and would seek a request for proposals from developers interested in renovating the building.
In December 2019, the firm Brine Wells, which was previously involved in the restoration of the Hotel Syracuse as the Marriott Syracuse Downtown in Syracuse, was selected by the state as the preferred developer for Hotel Niagara. The company's initial $42 million renovation plan, which was in line to receive $10.6 million in state and federal tax credits, was stalled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last June, Brine Wells submitted a new plan for restoring the structure at a cost of $50.8 million. The company's new plans call for 160 guest rooms, two ballrooms, a restaurant, a lounge, an exterior patio and a rooftop lounge.
The Hotel Niagara property became embroiled in a lawsuit last year with local developer, Merani Hotel Group, filing a complaint in which it claimed Brine Wells accomplished nothing with the building since 2017. Brine Wells filed a counterclaim, alleging Merani interfered with the company's business relationships and their actions jeopardized the hotel's redevelopment.
State officials said Monday the two parties have since resolved the lawsuit and the legal claims are no longer viewed as an impediment in moving the project forward.
They have not offered a firm timetable for getting the project completed and the hotel reopened.
