Former AquaFalls site focus for Experience Center

By Aaron Besecker

January 16, 2006

The infamous former AquaFalls site is one of two sites being considered for the planned visitor and orientation center in downtown Niagara Falls, according to a city official.

The former Occidental Chemical building on Rainbow Boulevard — now called “One Niagara” and which has symbolized the decrepit state of development in Niagara Falls — sits on a portion of one of two downtown sites that are now the subject of economic development studies for the Niagara Experience Center, said Niagara Falls Senior Planner Thomas DeSantis.

DeSantis, who sits on the center’s executive board of directors, stressed the board is nowhere near making a final decision on where the themed entertainment attraction will be built.

The current economic development studies — being done by Economics Research Associates — are looking at the potential for development of the areas surrounding the sites. The two sites being considered have an overlapping portion of land which does not include “One Niagara,” DeSantis said.

Sites across the downtown area, from John B. Daly Boulevard to the Aquarium of Niagara, were included on the original list of possible sites for the center.

Officials expect to move into the next phase of development “somewhere in the middle of the first quarter,” according to Experience Center Chairman Paul Dyster.

The next steps that would follow site selection would include site acquisition and then moving forward with the actual design of the facility, Dyster said.

Officials are also considering the idea of holding an international design competition to solicit architectural visions from world-renowned designers.

“We’re trying to raise the bar for architecture,” Dyster said. “It’s what’s been done for some other facilities out there that have been very successful.”

Both Dyster and DeSantis believe such a contest could bring in high-quality, world class applicants.

“Doing a signature project that close to the falls and of such import would certainly attract interest from a wide spectrum of architects,” DeSantis said.

Such an event could only improve the outcome of the project, he added.

Dyster said any design image that’s created would be helpful because it’s a necessary component for marketing materials, even if it’s not the final architectural design chosen by the board. “You can’t have the booklet and not have a cover,” he said.

Funding already committed to the Niagara Experience Center project includes $10 million in state funding committed in March 2002. A $70,000 grant from the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation of Buffalo was announced in March 2005, while a $10,000 grant from the Grigg-Lewis Foundation Inc., of Lockport, was awarded for the center’s Web site in August.

The initial estimate of the cost of the proposed center was $75 million.

Contact Aaron Besecker at 282-2311, Ext. 2263.