NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WBEN) "Study after study tells us, you need to get additional attractions or amusements that will keep people in the area longer. Everyone knows it. It's so obvious, you scratch your head and say, why isn't is happening?"
Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino on WBEN Friday morning, just after the
city took the wraps off of a new year-round event campus at the Rainbow Center, in the heart of downtown Niagara Falls.
Plans include an event space for sports games and concerts, an outdoor green space, rock climbing wall, ropes course, and winter activities like ice skating, sledding as well. The goal is to have something for people to enjoy twelve months out of the year, while providing more entertainment experiences beyond the natural wonder of Niagara Falls.
"It's not as though we have to build a structure. We have a space. It's somewhere in the neighborhood of 200-thousand square feet," said Restaino, referring to the Rainbow Center. "So it's almost like a blank slate for us. Once we re-design the building, then we get the attractions and amusements that are going to be appealing."
The Rainbow Center occupies about two city blocks. The front third of it is already occupied by the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute.
"Imagine if we had to build the structure for an indoor entertainment center. The good news is that we don't have to do that. Right now we have to find that attraction and that amusement and entertainment piece and inject it into a structure that already exists. So to some extent, the first half of it is done. We're going to redesign how the structure looks, and then we have to fill it," he said.
Restaino knows that it won't be easy and he says it's not a silver bullet. But a facility like this will cause visitors to extend their stay in local hotels, bring them closer to restaurants and shops as well as boost the local economy.
Residents of Niagara Falls will have new employment opportunities and have a center that will help them feel more connected to the community.
Projects have been announced before for the Rainbow Centre including the 2014 Wonder Falls project which envisioned turning the giant space into a water park and hotel. It never got off the ground and declared dead in 2019.
Restaino sees the event campus as a public-private project. The next step is getting the design completed. "Marvel Architects have worked very closely with the city and USA Niagara in re-imagining how to reopen the exterior of the building, to give it a more open-air pavilion kind of feel." Once that is completed, Restaino says they will move on to the entertainment component.
Further community meetings are planned on the project.
