19 Story Hotel in the Heart of Downtown Future Still Unknown

Photo By James Neiss

Hotel Niagara, most recently owned by Amidee Hotels and Resorts, failed to be sold on the auction block today as a result of no bids being placed above the bank's minimum bid of a mere 1 million dollars. Bidders included the high profiled Carl Paladino, who also owns the newly refurbished Giacomo on Rainbow Blvd. Amidee originally purchased the hotel back in 2007 with high aspirations of restoring it into a truly unique hotel. In 2008, they proposed a plan to renovate the hotel into a full service luxury boutique hotel at a price of 15.2 million dollars. A total of 4 million dollars was to be allotted to Amidee by USA Niagara Development Corp and the city; however Amidee chose to forgo the public funds because of the historic preservation requirements tied to them. Seemingly now that the hotel was been foreclosed on as a result of excessive back taxes, taking those public funds would have been a better option. 

Now the future of this landmark is once again unknown. Let's hope that the next owner, whenever that will be, is a real player with the experience and ability to carry out a redevelopment plan. If only we can rewind back to 1954 when famous actors like Marilyn Monroe and  star baseball players like Joe Dimaggio stayed at Hotel Niagara during their visit to the "Honeymoon Capital of the World".