An intervention Thursday by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has pulled the Hamister Group’s $25 million development proposal for downtown Niagara Falls back from the brink of extinction.
Cuomo spoke by phone with developer Mark Hamister and told Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster there is no imminent announcement coming from the developer, Dyster told The Buffalo News late Thursday.
The governor told Dyster he wants all the stakeholders involved in the mixed-use development proposal to get together and try and work out their problems, Dyster said.
The governor also told the mayor the project “is important to him” and “important to his economic strategy for Niagara Falls and Western New York,” Dyster said.
The future of the project seemed even more up in the air than it already was earlier Thursday in the wake of an anonymous political mailer.
Earlier this week, mailboxes in Niagara Falls were hit by oversized postcards that praised the work of City Councilman Samuel F. Fruscione, who, with his colleagues in the Council majority, has tabled an agreement with the Hamister Group for two months.
The mailer also called Mark Hamister, the developer making the proposal, a con man.
The top of one side of the mailer reads: “ ‘Developer’ Mark Hamister is running a con game on the city of Niagara Falls ... and he just got caught!”
It goes on to laud Fruscione for asking questions about the deal, and carries a message asking voters to cast their ballot for Fruscione in next week’s Democratic primary election for City Council.
“Let’s keep Councilman Sam Fruscione fighting for us in Niagara Falls,” the anonymous mailer reads, “because there [sic] probably other con men out there who want to take advantage of Niagara Falls.”
Hamister was planning to call a news conference for Thursday afternoon to talk about the project. But it was cancelled early Thursday morning.
A spokeswoman for the Hamister Group declined comment Thursday.
Mayor Paul A. Dyster had made himself available to meet with Hamister on Thursday if he wanted to meet.
No meeting happened, but Dyster said he planned to keep a dialogue going with Hamister.
In a letter to Hamister sent Thursday, the Niagara USA Chamber offered support for the project, which it said “could be an economic boom to Niagara Falls.”
“We applaud your willingness to invest over $25 million in what will become a high visibility mixed use hotel, which in no doubt will bolster the economy through tourism and additional private investment,” President and CEO Deanna Alterio Brennen wrote. “In spite of some of the challenges this project is facing, we want you to know the Niagara USA Chamber and the business community in Niagara County supports you.”
For his part, Fruscione said he had nothing to do with the anonymous mailer and did not know who did.
Fruscione, however, did characterize much of the message of the mailer as accurate, in that the questions raised by him and his colleagues were the reasons the situation has progressed the way it has.
“I appreciate it,” Fruscione told The Buffalo News on Tuesday night, noting the mailer was sent by someone apparently speaking on his behalf.
Fruscione also said he did not think the mailer “matters much at all,” adding that anonymous mailers had come out in early August critical of his stance on the proposed Hamister project.
Fruscione could not be reached for additional comment on Thursday.
The mailers were sent out with first-class postage stamps, but they had a bulk mail permit number printed on them.
The permit belongs to Gallagher Printing of Buffalo, U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Karen Mazurkiewicz said.
David Gallagher, founder of the company, declined to disclose who paid for the mailer, but acknowledged it was an organization, not an individual person. He also said the organization was not from Niagara County.
Since the start of 2010, Gallagher Printing has done about $120,000 worth of work for Republican and Conservative candidates and organizations in Niagara County, according to state Board of Elections data. Those include the Niagara County Republican Committee and the Niagara County Conservative Party.
So far this year, Gallagher Printing also has been paid for work by several political campaigns, including a group known as Cheektowaga Democrats 2013, Buffalo Republican mayoral candidate Sergio Rodriguez’s campaign and the Western New York Progressive Caucus, a newly-formed political action committee that’s been getting involved in Democratic primaries for the Erie County Legislature.
The Hamister Group’s proposal for a $25.3 million mixed-use development, including a five-story hotel, apartments and retail space, at 310 Rainbow Blvd. was selected after a request for proposals was issued by USA Niagara Development, the Niagara Falls arm of Empire State Development.
The City Council tabled the proposal on July 8, initially raising concerns about the “transparency” of the process, as well as the $100,000 the city was to receive for the parcel. An attempt to bring the proposal to a vote later in July failed.
Under the proposed agreement, Hamister would receive $2.75 million from the state for the project. The parcel of land had been seen as the city’s contribution to the project from early on, including when the Council designated Hamister as the preferred developer in early 2012.
The parcel is city-owned and is currently used for a small restaurant as well as a parking lot. The city was given the land by developer David Cordish as part of the deal in which he donated the former Rainbow Centre mall to the city and Niagara County Community College for development of the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute.
Earlier this week, members of the Council majority delineated further concerns they have about the proposed agreement.
Dyster called it “pretty unprecedented” that a private citizen would be the subject of a political mailer, as opposed to elected officials who Dyster said are “attacked all the time.”
The mayor said he would understand if Hamister wanted to stand up for himself and rebut accusations.
Describing a previous discussion he said he had with Hamister, Dyster said the developer told him he felt like the Council was attempting to renege on the deal that had been reached in good faith.
In late July, Hamister said his group was going to try to stay patient, “for at least another month or two.” He also had said he does not intend to renegotiate the deal.
“I don’t renegotiate deals,” Hamister said.
email: abesecker@buffnews.com
Cuomo spoke by phone with developer Mark Hamister and told Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster there is no imminent announcement coming from the developer, Dyster told The Buffalo News late Thursday.
The governor told Dyster he wants all the stakeholders involved in the mixed-use development proposal to get together and try and work out their problems, Dyster said.
The governor also told the mayor the project “is important to him” and “important to his economic strategy for Niagara Falls and Western New York,” Dyster said.
The future of the project seemed even more up in the air than it already was earlier Thursday in the wake of an anonymous political mailer.
Earlier this week, mailboxes in Niagara Falls were hit by oversized postcards that praised the work of City Councilman Samuel F. Fruscione, who, with his colleagues in the Council majority, has tabled an agreement with the Hamister Group for two months.
The mailer also called Mark Hamister, the developer making the proposal, a con man.
The top of one side of the mailer reads: “ ‘Developer’ Mark Hamister is running a con game on the city of Niagara Falls ... and he just got caught!”
It goes on to laud Fruscione for asking questions about the deal, and carries a message asking voters to cast their ballot for Fruscione in next week’s Democratic primary election for City Council.
“Let’s keep Councilman Sam Fruscione fighting for us in Niagara Falls,” the anonymous mailer reads, “because there [sic] probably other con men out there who want to take advantage of Niagara Falls.”
Hamister was planning to call a news conference for Thursday afternoon to talk about the project. But it was cancelled early Thursday morning.
A spokeswoman for the Hamister Group declined comment Thursday.
Mayor Paul A. Dyster had made himself available to meet with Hamister on Thursday if he wanted to meet.
No meeting happened, but Dyster said he planned to keep a dialogue going with Hamister.
In a letter to Hamister sent Thursday, the Niagara USA Chamber offered support for the project, which it said “could be an economic boom to Niagara Falls.”
“We applaud your willingness to invest over $25 million in what will become a high visibility mixed use hotel, which in no doubt will bolster the economy through tourism and additional private investment,” President and CEO Deanna Alterio Brennen wrote. “In spite of some of the challenges this project is facing, we want you to know the Niagara USA Chamber and the business community in Niagara County supports you.”
For his part, Fruscione said he had nothing to do with the anonymous mailer and did not know who did.
Fruscione, however, did characterize much of the message of the mailer as accurate, in that the questions raised by him and his colleagues were the reasons the situation has progressed the way it has.
“I appreciate it,” Fruscione told The Buffalo News on Tuesday night, noting the mailer was sent by someone apparently speaking on his behalf.
Fruscione also said he did not think the mailer “matters much at all,” adding that anonymous mailers had come out in early August critical of his stance on the proposed Hamister project.
Fruscione could not be reached for additional comment on Thursday.
The mailers were sent out with first-class postage stamps, but they had a bulk mail permit number printed on them.
The permit belongs to Gallagher Printing of Buffalo, U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Karen Mazurkiewicz said.
David Gallagher, founder of the company, declined to disclose who paid for the mailer, but acknowledged it was an organization, not an individual person. He also said the organization was not from Niagara County.
Since the start of 2010, Gallagher Printing has done about $120,000 worth of work for Republican and Conservative candidates and organizations in Niagara County, according to state Board of Elections data. Those include the Niagara County Republican Committee and the Niagara County Conservative Party.
So far this year, Gallagher Printing also has been paid for work by several political campaigns, including a group known as Cheektowaga Democrats 2013, Buffalo Republican mayoral candidate Sergio Rodriguez’s campaign and the Western New York Progressive Caucus, a newly-formed political action committee that’s been getting involved in Democratic primaries for the Erie County Legislature.
The Hamister Group’s proposal for a $25.3 million mixed-use development, including a five-story hotel, apartments and retail space, at 310 Rainbow Blvd. was selected after a request for proposals was issued by USA Niagara Development, the Niagara Falls arm of Empire State Development.
The City Council tabled the proposal on July 8, initially raising concerns about the “transparency” of the process, as well as the $100,000 the city was to receive for the parcel. An attempt to bring the proposal to a vote later in July failed.
Under the proposed agreement, Hamister would receive $2.75 million from the state for the project. The parcel of land had been seen as the city’s contribution to the project from early on, including when the Council designated Hamister as the preferred developer in early 2012.
The parcel is city-owned and is currently used for a small restaurant as well as a parking lot. The city was given the land by developer David Cordish as part of the deal in which he donated the former Rainbow Centre mall to the city and Niagara County Community College for development of the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute.
Earlier this week, members of the Council majority delineated further concerns they have about the proposed agreement.
Dyster called it “pretty unprecedented” that a private citizen would be the subject of a political mailer, as opposed to elected officials who Dyster said are “attacked all the time.”
The mayor said he would understand if Hamister wanted to stand up for himself and rebut accusations.
Describing a previous discussion he said he had with Hamister, Dyster said the developer told him he felt like the Council was attempting to renege on the deal that had been reached in good faith.
In late July, Hamister said his group was going to try to stay patient, “for at least another month or two.” He also had said he does not intend to renegotiate the deal.
“I don’t renegotiate deals,” Hamister said.
email: abesecker@buffnews.com