Latest news with #NiagaraFallsRedevelopment
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Falls accepts NFR data center proposal for further review
The Niagara Falls City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to 'accept as complete' an application filed with city planners by Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR) to establish a Negotiated Planned Development District, also known as a Planned Unit District (PUD) for the purpose of developing a proposed $1.5 billion data center campus in the South End. Council members also approved taking on the role of 'Lead Agency' in the environmental review of the project. NFR's application was also referred to the Niagara Falls and Niagara County planning boards and the city's Zoning Board of Appeals for further consideration. Members had a few questions for acting City Corporation Counsel Thomas DeBoy regarding the application. DeBoy told Member Brian Archie (D) that NFR does not own all of the roughly 53 acres of land that would comprise the total project. 'But that doesn't prevent them from filing the application,' he said. The first stage of the project, which NFR has dubbed 'Data Center at Niagara Digital Campus PUD,' is projected to occupy the same parcel of 12 to 15 acres of prime South End tourist district land that the city has proposed to use for its Centennial Park project. Control of that land has already been awarded to the city through the courts by an eminent domain proceeding. The city has also recently filed a claim that asserts that roughly 5 acres of the disputed land, formerly the 10th Street Park, was never properly transferred to NFR as part of a 2003 settlement of an earlier lawsuit between the Falls and the South End land owner. The resolution, approved by the council, specifically states that nothing contained in it 'waives any rights of the city to recover the park property.' Asked by Council Member Donta Myles if approving the application could lead to 'more litigation', DeBoy told him, 'You could be sued either way you vote.' NFR has said its data center campus project 'is anticipated to bring 5,600 jobs to Niagara Falls during construction, as well as more than 550 permanent jobs when all phases of the data center are up and running.' NFR's original project application, filed in October, was determined to be incomplete by city planners. At almost 500 pages then, the application called for the Data Center at Niagara Digital Campus to be developed in five phases. The campus would include eight two-story buildings and one one-story building, for a total of 1,232,715 square feet of space. The full development would cover approximately 53 acres of what NFR has described as 'mostly vacant land.' The property would be bounded by John B. Daly Boulevard, Falls Street, 15th Street and Buffalo Avenue. Included in the application is a rezoning request, copies of traffic and noise studies, an environmental and energy impact plan, a full environment assessment form, a verified ownership petition, a survey and legal description, a historical property assessment, and aerial maps showing the placement of the data center and various other key elements of the plan. The project application was originally filed just over a month after New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, rejected a second appeal by NFR seeking to have its justices weigh in on the legality of the use of eminent domain to take NFR's land, described as 907 Falls St. and an adjacent portion of property along John Daly Memorial Parkway, for the proposed Centennial Park project. After the appeals court ruling, Mayor Robert Restaino said the city would move forward with 'a valuation and acquisition' of the property where NFR wants to build its first proposed data center building. The city council is currently weighing an appraised bid on the property of more than $4 million.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Niagara Falls City Council will consider accepting NFR data center application
The Niagara Falls City Council will consider a resolution at its meeting tonight to 'accept as complete' an application filed with city planners by Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR) to establish a Negotiated Planned Development District, also known as a Planned Unit District (PUD) for the purpose of developing a proposed $1.5 billion data center campus in the South End. Council members will also be asked to approve taking on the role of 'Lead Agency' in the environmental review of the project. If approved, the resolution would refer NFR's application to the Falls and Niagara County planning boards and the city's Zoning Board of Appeals for further consideration. The first stage of the project, which NFR has dubbed 'Data Center at Niagara Digital Campus PUD,' is projected to occupy the same parcel of 12 to 15 acres of prime South End tourist district land that the city has proposed to use for its Centennial Park project. Control of that land has also been awarded to the city through the courts by an eminent domain proceeding. The city has recently filed a claim that asserts that roughly 5 acres of the disputed land, formerly the 10th Street Park, was never properly transferred to NFR as part of a 2003 settlement of an earlier lawsuit between the Falls and the South End land owner. The resolution specifically states that nothing contained in it 'waives any rights of the city to recover the park property.' NFR has said its data center campus project 'is anticipated to bring 5,600 jobs to Niagara Falls during construction, as well as more than 550 permanent jobs when all phases of the data center are up and running.' NFR's original project application, filed in October, was determined to be incomplete by city planners. At almost 500 pages then, the application called for the Data Center at Niagara Digital Campus to be developed in five phases. The campus would include eight two-story buildings and one one-story building, for a total of 1,232,715 square feet of space. The full development would cover approximately 53 acres of what NFR has described as 'mostly vacant land.' The property would be bounded by John B. Daly Boulevard, Falls Street, 15th Street and Buffalo Avenue. Included in the application is a rezoning request, copies of traffic and noise studies, an environmental and energy impact plan, a full environment assessment form, a verified ownership petition, a survey and legal description, a historical property assessment, and aerial maps showing the placement of the data center and various other key elements of the plan. It was originally filed just over a month after New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals rejected a second appeal by NFR seeking to have its justices weigh in on the legality of the use of eminent domain to take NFR's land, described as 907 Falls St. and an adjacent portion of property along John Daly Memorial Parkway, for the proposed Centennial Park project. After the appeals court ruling, Mayor Robert Restaino said the city would move forward with 'a valuation and acquisition' of the property where NFR wants to build its first proposed data center building. The city council is weighing an appraised bid on the property of more than $4 million.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NFR files legal answer to city bid to acquire company's 5 acres
The private law firm representing Niagara Falls Redevelopment has filed a formal answer to Mayor Robert Restaino's administration's claim that the city — not the company — owns 5 acres of the 10-acre site identified by the city as the preferred site for the proposed Centennial Park arena and events campus. The answer includes a counterclaim seeking 'consequential damages,' including reimbursement for taxes paid, for the 'value and benefit' conferred on the city as a result of NFR's 'justifiable reliance on the city's actions for more than 20 years.' Attorneys from NFR's law firm, Harter, Secrest & Emery of Buffalo, filed the company's verified answer on May 16, denying the city's contention that the 5 acres — located at the intersection of 10th and Falls streets — was designated as public parkland, served as a public park for decades and was never properly conveyed when the city agreed to turn it over to NFR more than two decades ago. In its answer, NFR argues that the 5 acres, which were transferred by the city to the company under a development agreement on Aug. 4, 2004, were not subject to the 'requirements and encumbrances' of the Public Trust Doctrine, a legal principle that designates certain resources, such as parkland, as held in trust by the government for public use. The city, through its attorneys with the Buffalo law firm Hodgson Russ, has argued in legal filings that NFR failed to obtain proper approval from the state legislature before accepting the property as its own and using it for 'non-public purposes.' In its answer, NFR suggests no such approval was necessary while also denying the city's allegation that the land transfer required authorization from the Niagara Falls City Council. 'The subject parcel is not encumbered by the Public Trust Doctrine, and its Aug. 4, 2004 conveyance from the city to NFR did not require approval from the New York State Legislature or the Niagara Falls City Council,' NFR's answer reads. 'For a parcel to be encumbered by the Public Trust Doctrine, there must either be an express or implied designation that demonstrates the clear and unmistakable intent of the owner to dedicate the land as public parkland. Here, no such express or implied designation ever occurred.' In its counterclaim, NFR describes the city's chances of succeeding in its quiet title claim as an 'unlikely event' while arguing that should the 2004 property be ruled null and void it is owed compensation from the city. The company's compensation list of requested compensation covers: the expenditure of 'considerable resources' related to the property, including money, services, labor, materials and equipment; paying the purchase price for the 5 acres; paying taxes on the parcel; maintaining the parcel; performing environmental cleanup work on the site moving playground equipment off-site and 'spending millions of dollars to develop a data center on the subject parcel, which the city, directly through its agents and representatives, encouraged NFR to spend.' 'NFR has expended these resources with the reasonable and justifiable expectation that, in accordance with the city's actions, NFR rightfully owns the subject parcel,' the company notes in the counterclaim found in its verified answer. The question of ownership of the 5 acres looms large in an ongoing eminent domain proceeding in which the city is poised to acquire, using its power of eminent domain, two NFR properties totaling roughly 10 acres off John B. Daly Boulevard at the intersection of 10th and Falls Street for the purpose of developing Centennial Park. NFR spokesperson James Haggerty released a copy of the company's response to the city's so-called 'quiet title claim' in response to questions from the newspaper on Thursday. The release came hours before Falls lawmakers were scheduled to vote on a request from Restaino to approve an offer of just over $4 million for NFR's land. The offer was tabled by the city council during Thursday's meeting. In a previous eminent domain case involving NFR, the company sought $75 million for the former Niagara Splash Park site, which is located across the street from NFR's 10-acre parcel. In that case, a judge determined that the state of New York, which acquired the Splash Park land for use in the development of Seneca Niagara Casino, ultimately owed NFR $17.8 million for the land. Haggerty described the city's initial $4 million offer for the proposed Centennial Park site as being based on a 'so-called appraisal' Restaino 'made up out of thin air.' 'In the end, though, it doesn't matter,' Haggerty said. 'Just as happened with the Splash Park parcels years ago, the court will decide the fair market value of this private property after considering actual appraisals submitted by both sides as this litigation moves forward — all clouded and complicated, of course, by the mayor's claims in his new quiet title action that the city already owns half the property it is seeking to acquire through eminent domain.' Haggerty also criticized Restaino and city lawmakers for not only suggesting the city's offer was based on a 'mysterious' appraisal but also for taking action before the mayor released the contents of a feasibility study conducted by a private firm to examine the potential pros and cons of building Centennial Park. He also referenced NFR's idea for the same 10-acre site, which company officials insist is needed to allow for the development of the first phase of what they claim would be a $1.5 billion data center in the city. 'The taxpayers continue to pay legal fees for all the mayor's litigation and are forced to watch as he works tirelessly on the taxpayer's dime to prevent NFR from building its economy-transforming, privately funded, $1.5 billion data center,' Haggerty said. In addition to the company's answer to the city's quiet title claim, Haggerty released legal requests sent last week by NFR's attorneys to the city that seek more detailed information about what he described as Restaino's 'scheme' to acquire NFR's 5 acres without having to pay fair market value for them. Examples of information sought by NFR include identities of individuals who may have knowledge regarding documents and information about 'any express or implied designation of the 10th Street playground as parkland,' documents used by the city to draft its legal complaint or support the city's position and identification of city officials who communicated with 'any third-party,' including New York state government agencies, concerning the action. 'Under court supervision, NFR will now see all documents, emails and text messages related to the mayor's attempt to avoid paying fair market value for this land,' Haggerty said in a statement from the company. 'Mayor Restaino may be able to ignore Freedom of Information Law requests, but he cannot ignore the courts, and we look forward to his testimony in this action,' Haggerty added. Dan Spitzer, an attorney representing the city, classified the requests as 'standard deposition notices' served in response to the city's quiet title claim. While Haggerty suggested both Mayor Restaino and his brother, City Administrator Anthony Restaino, were served 'subpoenas' in the case last week, Spitzer said that was inaccurate. He classified the requests for additional information as 'standard deposition notices' sent in response to the city's lawsuit. 'There have been no subpoenas served on the city, nor would it be proper to do so,' Spitzer said. 'While the misinformation is consistent with the legal abilities and veracity frequently demonstrated by NFR, we suspect what you are referring to are the standard deposition notices.'
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NFR: Data center tax payment plan could aide arena project
Backers of an announced plan to build a $1.5 billion data center in downtown Niagara Falls on Monday floated the idea of using a portion of tax-related payments from the project to cover costs associated with another big idea in the same area — Mayor Robert Restaino's proposed arena and events campus known as Centennial Park. During a Zoom call organized by the data center's lead advocate, Niagara Falls Redevelopment, company representatives suggested they're open to using a specialized payment program that would allow tax payments from their project to be placed into a fund the city could use for a designated purpose such as paying for Centennial Park, which is expected to cost at least $150 million. NFR representatives, joined by the company's economic consultant, Michael N'Dolo of the MRB Group, said municipal governments that would derive tax revenue from the data center could authorize what's called Pilot Increment Financing, or PIF, for the project. The tax payment structure allows local governments to enter into payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements with the owners of specific redevelopment sites, with a portion of the proceeds from those projects being set aside to cover capital improvements. Restaino and some city lawmakers have previously said they may borrow funds through the bond market to cover costs associated with building Centennial Park. During Monday's Zoom session, NFR's long-time Executive Vice President Roger Trevino suggested authorizing the so-called 'PIF' to be created for the company's Falls data center could help the city cover the cost of any such bond. 'This is the revenue stream that would be used to pay down a bond,' Trevino said. 'At present, all the discussions have not involved a mechanism to pay down the bond.' Monday's review of the project and its potential benefits included guests invited by NFR, including what Trevino said were developers, attorneys, political activists, tour operators and school officials. City Council Chairman Jim Perry did not attend the session but said on Monday he had no faith in the possibility of the data center supporting the city's arena efforts, suggesting it's a 'waste of time' to discuss another 'false story' being put out by NFR. Perry said he's convinced, based on the company's track record in the Falls, which has included decades of promising developments that have never materialized, that the data center is 'just another publicity stunt.' 'I will tell you with no hesitation, there is no data center going to be built,' Perry said. Restaino, with support from Perry and some other council members, has aggressively sought to use the city's power of eminent domain to forcibly acquire 10 acres of NFR's land off John B. Daly Boulevard near the intersection of 10th and Falls streets for the purposes of developing Centennial Park. NFR insists its consultants have determined that the same exact 10 acres must be the starting point for the first phase of its data center, which the company publicly announced in 2022 with its partner in the project, the Toronto firm Urbacon. The companies claim the first building would be part of a larger nine-building complex to be developed on part of the 140 acres of land NFR owns to the east of Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino. The city and the company have for years been at odds over which of the so-called two projects for the Falls has more merit. Restaino, like Perry, has consistently held that the company's data center and its lofty revenue, tax and jobs numbers are not real, while NFR has frequently questioned the cost of Centennial Park, the chances of the city obtaining the money needed to build it from the state and the project's ability to offer any real return on investment for taxpayers. On Monday, Trevino suggested his company is not opposed to the city having an arena, despite what some officials have viewed as the company's opposition to Restaino's idea. 'We are not against an events center, never have been,' Trevino said. 'In fact, we actually believe in the two-project solution.' Some critics view NFR's plan as a ruse designed to inflate the value of the 10-acre site in court. As part of the eminent domain process, final value will be determined by a local judge based, in part, on the property's 'highest and best use.' Restaino's administration, in documents filed in 2022 with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, estimated it would cost $10 million for land acquisition, which would be about $1 million per acre. Data center advocates, including the Niagara Reporter, have suggested that the site, due to its proximity to the old Niagara Splash Park property across John B. Daly Boulevard, has a true value closer to $20 million. NFR and its partners previously sought $75 million for the Splash Park site, which was forcibly acquired by the state using its power of eminent domain to support the development of Seneca Niagara Casino. In a 2010 decision, former Niagara County State Supreme Court Justice Richard Kloch determined the Splash Park land had a final value of $17.17 million, or about $1 million per acre. NFR spokesperson James Haggerty previously called suggestions that the company introduced its data center proposal in an effort to drive up the value of its 10 acres 'utter nonsense.' He also noted that NFR and Urbacon first inquired about the possibility of building a data center on land in the Falls eight months before Restaino first publicly discussed his plans for Centennial Park in October 2021 and more than a year before the city formally commenced eminent domain proceedings involving the company's 10 acres. NFR officials continue to insist the data center proposal is genuine and have hired MRG Group to reinforce the point by conducting a study of the project's potential economic benefits. The Rochester-based firm's study claims NFR and Urbacon's Niagara Digital campus could result in 'more than $414 million in additional tax revenues' for the city, county, state and local school district over a 20-year period. It also claims the data center development would create 'almost 1,000 jobs per year on average' with estimated earnings of '$1.66 billion over 20 years.' On Monday, N'Dolo spent about a half hour reviewing his company's findings including MRB group's suggestion that tax revenues resulting from the development of the data center over 20 years would equal more than $400 million in total, including $298 million for the city and Falls school district, $54 million for Niagara County and $62 million for the state. The MRB study calculates what it calls a 'property tax savings to a 'typical' owner of an average-priced single-family home,' concluding that the homeowner would 'save approximately $14,603 over 20 years' or 'an average of approximately $730 per year.' The consultant defines the 'savings' as 'revenues that the city and school district otherwise would have to collect via their respective tax levies.' 'If the project moves forward, you get this; if the project doesn't move forward, you don't get this,' N'Dolo said. Data center advocates did not directly answer a question from the Niagara Gazette about what the city may be doing, or not doing, to prevent NFR and Urbacon from moving forward with the data center. Haggerty did say that the firm submitted updated documents for the data center to the city's planning board last week. Those documents include an updated application to establish a Negotiated Planned Development District, also known as a Planned Unit District, for the purposes of developing the data center in the city's South End. The updated planning documents, which would require approval from the city before the project can move forward, will be made available on NFR's digital campus website on Tuesday, according to Haggerty. 'All we need is cooperation to put shovels in the ground and move this forward,' Haggerty said. Trevino said there are still many 'moving parts' to this type of development and with a project of the size and magnitude of the data center. He said his company remains open to answering questions and doing its part to make the plan happen. 'At the end of the day, what we need here are jobs and we need high-tech, not low-paying jobs. We need good-paying jobs,' he said.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Restaino cites court decision on lending practices in latest knock on NFR
Mayor Robert Restaino continued to ramp up his criticism of Niagara Falls Redevelopment last week, noting that a federal appeals court recently upheld a lower court's findings that a bank and lending institution operated by NFR's owners engaged in 'predatory' lending practices that targeted people of color and individuals with low incomes. During his weekly YouTube address on May 2, Restaino referenced a Feb. 19 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to enter into a final judgment awarding four homeowners $722,044 in compensatory damages and four others nominal damages from Emigrant Savings Bank and Emigrant Mortgage Co. for discriminatory mortgage lending. The bank and mortgage companyare owned and operated by the Milstein family of real estate developers in NYC. The brother tandem of Howard and Edward Milstein is the principal investors in Niagara Falls Redevelopment, a company that owns more than 140 acres of land in the Falls, including 10 acres currently at the center of an ongoing eminent domain claim initiated by Restaino's administration. In a video broadcast on his YouTube channel, Restaino pointed out the appeals court decision upheld a jury determination that Emigrant officials engaged in 'improper loan practices to low-income communities and people of color in New York state.' Restaino said the ruling shows the bank and mortgage company management — the same people who own and operate NFR — had a 'genuine disdain' for 'people trying to improve themselves.' 'The information is public,' Restaino said of the court decision. 'It's all available. There's no secret to it. I don't know how much more information people in the community of Niagara Falls and public officials throughout the region need for them to say enough is enough with this group. This group has done nothing but continue to be a stumbling block and impediment to the growth of the region.' The law firm Relman Colfax represented eight Black and Latino borrowers who had done business with Emigrant, which they claim ended in grossly unfavorable loans. In June 2016, a jury found that the bank owned by the Milstein family should be held accountable for lending practices that contributed to the 2008 financial collapse. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the defendants' practices of 'unfair and deceptive loans' served as a 'textbook example of reverse redlining,' a practice in which minority communities are targeted with loans destined to fail, leaving borrowers and their families without homes or facing foreclosure proceedings in deals that were financially beneficial to the lender. Emigrant appealed the jury verdict and the district court's post-trial order. In its February decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed all aspects of the judgment of the district court. Emigrant representatives released a statement expressing disappointment in the appeals court's 2-1 decision, while noting that the matter remains under appeal. Emigrant representatives noted that the case included a strongly worded dissent by one of the appellate judges, Micheal Park, who wrote: 'In this case the district court sent untimely claims to an improperly instructed jury two separate times. To affirm the resulting judgment, the majority bless significant legal errors and upends established doctrine.' Emigrant noted that the judge also noted that the jury in the case was given faulty instructions that allowed it to find liability without any evidence of discrimination. They also noted that the second trial, which was held solely on the question of damages, awarded less compensation than the first, lowering the damages by one-third, resulting in four of the eight plaintiffs receiving only $1 each in damages. 'Emigrant stands by its commitment to ensure the availability of lending in communities long ignored by other banks, and we believe we will, ultimately, be vindicated here,' the statement from Emigrant reads. Restaino's comments on the appeal court's decision in the Emigrant case represent just the latest salvo he has fired against NFR as he continues to attempt to justify his administration's contention that the city has the legal right, under its power of eminent domain, to seize part of the company's property for the purposes of building the mayor's proposed $165 million events campus and arena known as Centennial Park. The city has successfully argued in court that it has legal right to 10 acres of NFR's land needed for the arena project, however, Restaino and the city's private attorneys from the law firm Hodgson Russ have recently argued that 5 of those acres — an area previously described publicly as 10th Street 'park' — already belong to the city due to NFR's failure to properly acquire it from the state years ago. On May 2, Restaino again insisted that while NFR contends no such approval was needed because the land was not parkland, the city has presented photographic evidence of on-site baseball diamonds, affidavits, maps and engineering designs dating back to 1942 that he claims support the administration's position. 'It's just a question of trying to interfere and be difficult with the City of Niagara Falls as the Milstein group has done for nearly 30 years,' Restaino said, referring to NFR's stand against the city's parkland claim on the 5-acre parcel. NFR spokesperson James Haggerty described Restaino's arguments regarding the company's private property as 'inane,' saying the mayor is 'basically suggesting a property owner give up their legal rights without due process because he says so.' Haggerty suggested Restaino continues to wrongfully assert that the 5 acres on 10th Street belong to the city, even though his predecessor, former Mayor Vince Anello, determined 20 years ago that the public trust doctrine did not apply to the city's conveyance of the land to NFR. 'Mayor Restaino apparently wishes to rewrite history, cause the city to try to renege on a lawful transaction, and expend more public money on fruitless litigation, all to try to acquire property for an event center it has no money to build,' Haggerty said. 'There is still a constitutionally protected rule of law in this country. It seems politicians of all stripes are more than willing to forget that these days.' Haggerty also questioned what he described as Restaino's 'unhinged rants' about a case that went to trial nine years ago, involving a loan program that ended in 2008 where half of the plaintiffs received a single dollar in damages. He suggested the newspaper reminds its readers and Falls residents that Howard Milstein alone has donated millions of dollars to important community causes over the years, including helping first responders in the wake of 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy in New York, the victims of Hurricane Katrina and, more recently, the victims of the Maui wildfires. Haggerty noted that Milstein also provided funding for the New York City Police Department's global counterterrorism efforts through the NYPD Police Foundation and, in the early days of COVID, tracked down and purchased more than one million N95 masks from China that were given to New York hospitals. Haggerty also credited Milstein with helping to support improvements in the nation's infrastructure and in 'groundbreaking' medical research that has helped combat some of the most devastating diseases of our time, including antibiotic-resistant infectious diseases, blood disease, skin cancers and infertility. He also noted that the Milstein family has helped support hundreds of start-up technology companies through their Grand Central Tech program and other technology initiatives and donated $20 million to Cornell for the university's Roosevelt Island technology campus. 'This is what Howard Milstein and the Milstein family has done for communities across the nation and globally, and what they would do for Niagara Falls if only city leaders would work with us,' Haggerty said. Haggerty also said that, despite disagreements with Restaino and the mayor's persistent criticisms, NFR remains committed to carrying out a proposed $1.5 billion data center with its partner in the project, Urbacon. That project, according to NFR's plans, would begin with a first phase targeted for the same 10-acre plot Restaino wants for Centennial Park. 'Despite the mayor's rants, and despite the nasty personal attacks, NFR is still willing to work cooperatively with the City of Niagara Falls for the benefit of its residents — more than four years after Urbacon first approached the City with the idea for the $1.5 billion Niagara Digital Campus data center, which would bring technology jobs, unprecedented tax revenue, and opportunity to city residents.'
