Niagara Falls has a new believer in town.
Peter Bennett -a major promoter who worked with the Beatles and Michael Jackson is now parting with smokin Joe's Family and Fun Center to kick off a concert series at the former Wintergarden site. Benliett, a former promotions director for Apple Records and a promotions manager for The Beatles and The Who, is planning to bring, several "quality name" acts to the Smokin Joe's Family Fun Center by the spring or early summer. Bennett is also negotiating with Buffalo developer Frank Parlato Jr. to build a restaurant and club at the top of the former Aqua falls building - renamed One Niagara, after Parlato foreclosed on the site last month. "I feel that there is a lot of potential in this tOWn," Bennett said. , Jennifer Pauly, a spokesman for Smokin Joe's, said the convenience store giant led by businessman Joe Anderson is planning to continue renovating the former Wintergarden site to support professional lighting and sound to host the concert series by the spring. The center has already hosted tWo boxing events. When completed, Pauly said, the concert venue would seat 1,500 people. Bennett -who has three decades of experience promoting other major talents like Aerosmith, Mohammed Ali and. The Animals -said he plans to market the area in a similar way. He envisions name acts
attracting customers from New York and Pennsylvania, as well as Toronto.
"I love to make something unknown into fame," Bennett said. "It's like Billboard said: Makes unknowns into stars and stars into superstars. Niagara Falls is a star." Acts that require a larger venue maybe held at the Conference Center or in Buffalo until a new concert space is built, Bennett said.

He is hoping the city will move toward building a larger venue that could hold as many as 12,000 seats to host concerts that rival the Canadian casinos. The idea for the concert series dates back to before Parlato began looking to turn the former Occidental Chemical " glass building on Rainbow Boulevard.
Parlato acquired the site through foreclosure in December after months of speculation that the AquaFalls project to build an underground aquarium on the site had soured.

"We were actually doing the Pete Bennett concert idea before we actually looked at the building," Steve Pigeon, part of the development team for One Niagara and a former Erie County Democratic ChaIrman Mayor Vince Anello said he believes the concert series will generate energy in the down town. And although it's early in the plans, he believes Parlato's and Bennett's plans stand apart from failed downtown development attempts of the past.

"Mr. Parlato took control of the property and now he's prepared to spend his own money and make things that happen." Anello said. "It's obvious that he's not just a talker. He's a doer. He's surrounding himself With good people."