Skyscraper proposed to replace tower

By COREY LAROCQUE Review Staff Writer

Friday, May 13, 2005 - 02:00

Local News -

NIAGARA FALLS - Canadian Niagara Hotels wants to build a 59-storey hotel and observation tower on Falls Avenue and replace the existing Kodak Tower.

At 229 metres (751 feet) tall, the proposed hotel would become the tallest building in the city and rival some of the taller skyscrapers in Toronto. It would have 48 storeys of hotel and restaurant space, plus an observation tower on top of it.

“It is part of the revitalization of the casino site,” said Michael DiCienzo, whose family owns Canadian Niagara Hotels. “The big thing with the whole project is we’re going to be taking down a dilapidated, unused tower and replacing it with a modern tower with proper views and heights.”

The company owns several businesses in the Falls Avenue area, including the Sheraton-on-the-Falls and Brock Plaza hotels, the Casino Niagara building, Planet Hollywood and the Rainforest Cafe.

A report from the city’s planning department shows the proposed hotel would be erected in the space between the Brock Plaza hotel and Casino Niagara’s Falls Avenue entrance. It also involves taking up some of the atrium space near the casino’s Falls Avenue entrance.

“The project here is fairly complex,” DiCienzo said.

He said the 550-room hotel would be an investment of about $130 million.

DiCienzo would not discuss many details of the new application until it goes before a public planning meeting at city hall Monday.

His company also has a second proposal to build a waterpark on top of its existing parking garage.

The proposed hotel was designed by Michael Kirkland, a Toronto-based architect.

Kirkland is also the chairman of the architectural peer review panel that advises the city and Niagara Parks Commission on the quality of major hotel projects. Earlier this year, Kirkland advised council he had declared a conflict of interest and stepped aside from the panel when it reviewed Canadian Niagara’s application. Ald. Carolynn Ioannoni has questioned how Kirkland can work for Canadian Niagara Hotels and sit on the peer review panel, but most council members seem content with Kirkland’s explanation he had removed himself from the process for this application.

City council is set to examine the application Monday at a public planning meeting.

Mayor Ted Salci would not disclose his view on the project.

“I’m anxious to see the proposal,” Salci said.

“I understand what they want to do. I don’t want to prejudice that (by commenting before the meeting).”

In the past year, however, council has favoured buildings taller than 30 storeys.

That change in thinking was, at least partly, promoted by Kirkland, who told council it should worry about the appearance of the first four storeys of a building because that’s what people see at street level.

If Canadian Niagara’s application is approved, it would become the second property permitted to go well above the 30-storey level that was part of the city’s development guidelines.

Last year, council granted permission for an expansion of the Hilton Niagara on Fallsview Boulevard to 58-storeys, or a height of 172 metres.

A planning department report recommends Canadian Niagara Hotels make a $1.3-million payment to the city for community improvements. As more developers express interest in building skyscrapers, council is making use of Section 37 of the Planning Act, which allows developers with well-designed projects to exceed the 30-storey level if they contribute to projects that benefit the community.

Though that section didn’t apply when the Hilton project came up last year, the city negotiated with the Hilton for a $1-million payment due when the hotel is built.

The city’s planning department recommends council approve zoning bylaw and official plan amendments needed before the company can build the hotel.

Other city departments did not object to it, but the Niagara Parks Commission and Regional Niagara staff want to see a plan to alleviate the pedestrian and vehicular traffic congestion they anticipate.

Despite the official support, one resident has registered his opposition.

“The proposed structure would be more than twice the height of the Foxhead and horribly disproportioned to the surrounding area,” River Road resident Ken Murphy wrote in a letter to council. “The city council has a responsibility to the community at large to control overbuilding.”