NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -- It seems fitting that the Hyatt Place Hotel, the long-discussed and delayed $35 million project under construction on Rainbow Boulevard in Niagara Falls, has hit a few bumps once shovels went into the ground.
"This was a lot that, I believe, was cleared during the time of urban renewal and it was left in a kind of jumbled fashion," said Dyster, D-Niagara Falls. "That became evident when they started construction. They found construction debris had been dumped in where the demolition had been done so, it made for kind of a slow start. As you can see, they're rapidly making up time here now."
It took nearly four years of negotiations between the city and the state before the Hamister Group broke ground last year.
Project Superintendent Richard Watkins says once the soil issues were remedied, they were able to quickly get the structure up.
"I think we're over 100,000 square feet here, this building. It's going up six stories, a penthouse, also a conference room, and a full kitchen on the 6th floor. Also, it'll have an outside patio overseeing the west side of the city and the falls. It's going to be a beautiful building," said Watkins.
Dyster says with the political fight over the project now behind them, he's hopeful the city's largest downtown non-casino project in 40 years will be just to thing to help invigorate the city.
"You're going to have what was a vacant corner, it's going to be very vibrant, and full of life, and every morning during the tourist season, the people that are staying in those 128 new hotel rooms are going to walk down out onto the street and they're going to become customers for all the businesses on Old Falls Street," said Dyster.
The hotel should be completed by fall.