Massive Renovations Coming to Historic Hotel in Niagara Falls

Plans to renovate and redevelop the historic Hotel Niagara have re-emerged four years after the proposal stalled because of the Covid 19 pandemic.

Syracuse-based Hotel Niagara Development LLC - an affiliate of Brine Wells Development LLC - has revived its renovation plans for the 12-story, long-shuttered Rainbow Boulevard landmark.

Hotel Niagara is proposing to invest $50,799,500 in the project that will turn vacant rooms into 160 hotel rooms - including one presidential suite - plus a pair of ballrooms, five meeting rooms, a full-service restaurant that highlights New York State foods and wines, and a rooftop lounge that offers a panoramic view of Niagara Falls and Canada.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the hotel opened in 1923 and its heyday welcomed such guests as Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, Frank Sinatra and President Eisenhower. Monroe stayed in the hotel for more than two months while filming “Niagara” in 1952.

The developers are seeking $6.7 million in various tax breaks from the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency to help finance the project. The IDA will consider the request at its June 12 meeting.

An estimated 85 jobs will be created once the hotel re-opens, presumably by late 2025 or early 2026. The average annual pay scale runs from $30,000 to $100,000, depending on the position.

Hotel Niagara Development, in 2019,  was selected by USA Niagara Development Corp. - an arm of Empire State Development Corp. - to handle the redevelopment effort. The effort was waylaid by COVID-19, which hit the hospitality industry hard. Banks and financial institutions are now just beginning to back hospitality-anchored developments.
Brine Wells is the same development group that revived the former Hotel Syracuse - now The Marriott Syracuse Downtown.

The hotel was last open in 2004.