Parlato and Pigeon on the move?

By Denise Jewell

December 21, 2004

Rumor has it that after their recent acquisition of the former Occidental Building in Niagara Falls, NY, developer Frank Parlato and attorney Steve Pigeon are in negotiations to acquire the Rainbow Mall directly across the street from the building they now own at 360 Rainbow Boulevard, just steps from Niagara Falls.

Last week PoliticsWNY.com broke the story that Parlato and Pigeon acquired the nine story, all-glass building which overlooks the falls, and borders both the Niagara Falls reservation park, and the international Rainbow Bridge.

For most of the last five years, the 2.2 acre property was owned by two foreign investors David Ho of Hong Kong and Gilles Assouline of Paris, who were planning to build an underground aquarium which was to be called AquaFalls. Parlato acquired the defaulted mortgages and acquired title through a second mortgage foreclosure on December 9th.

A call to the newly acquired building found the receptionist answering the phone "Niagara Falls' headquarters, One Niagara Plaza."

When contacted by PoliticsWNY.com, Parlato declined to say whether a purchase or lease of the Rainbow mall was immanent, or even contemplated, adding only "if our building is 'One Niagara', then Rainbow Mall is 'two Niagara.'"

The three story Mall, housed within a city owned parking ramp, is said to be about 300,000 square feet of rentable retail space, along with more than 2000-car parking.

In the 70's and 80's the Rainbow mall was brimming with life, with more than 100 stores and a famous food court which, during tourist season, attracted 100's of thousands of visitors annually. Today, the mall is almost entirely empty. Since the 1980's. it has been controlled through a 100 year lease with the city, by former Jimmy Carter official, and real estate mogul, David Kordish of Baltimore.

Pigeon also declined to say whether he and Parlato were going to buy or lease the Rainbow mall.

"After all, this is Niagara Falls, and anything can happen," Pigeon said.

"Niagara Falls is going to be one of the new power centers for this region, and, who knows, perhaps, the whole country. By virtue of the 17 million plus tourists who come here every year, we have a tremendous advantage. Orlando would know what to do with that, so would Las Vegas, and we think we know too. If we were to get the Rainbow Mall, and I'm not saying we are going to, or even trying to get it, I think, in tandem with our own One Niagara property, we could do something extraordinary- even this year."