NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo was in Niagara Falls Tuesday morning to help break ground on a long-discussed $35 million hotel project.
Local leaders in the falls joined the governor to finally put shovels in the dirt for the new Hyatt Place Hotel on Rainbow Boulevard. The project will see a 128-room, 111,000 square foot hotel built in the falls.
Hamister Group is building the hotel, which has been in the works since it was named the city's preferred developer for the land in 2012. Work was originally scheduled to be one in 2014.
Cuomo acknowledged some headaches during the process but gave Hamister Group credit for sticking with it. The governor's message was that Niagara Falls is back, and the fact that this project is now a reality proves that.
"People are not seeing problems and obstacles. They are seeing challenges that they believe they can overcome," Cuomo said. "Just as there is a negative synergy, there's a positive synergy. Growth brings growth. There are five new hotels, can you believe it, in Niagara Falls?"
Cuomo says the hotel and others like it are vital to the next step in the revitalization of the falls, which is to attract new world class recreational activities. The hotel should take 15 months to complete.
Meanwhile, the duck race at the Canal Fest of the Tonawandas will go on as planned thanks to a special waiver Cuomo gave the event.
The race was in jeopardy because of an obscure state law banning charitable games of chance on state property. That law resulted in the cancellation of a similar fundraiser in Brockport. The Canal Fest race is a fundraiser for Community Missions and takes place July 23.