I hope you all read the article in the Globe and Mail about Greg Frewin. It had some great information on him and how he ended up in Niagara Falls.
There were also some unexpected interesting tidbits. One of those was information about who owns the land. In a previous posting, Dan and Rick had a brief exchange about the building next to the Greg Frewin Theatre that has been under construction for a while. The Globe and Mail article says that future hotel, the theatre, and the Days Inn & Suites are all owned by Ashak Merani. If you look at this Google Maps screenshot, it looks like Mr. Merani owns that entire city block.
A Google search for Mr. Merani’s name brought up a few interesting hits:
- His company is (or at least was) 1174757 ONTARIO INC. He is also president (or at least was) of Niacan Ltd. I think one company became the other.
- He was an investor in the TV station that was proposed for the region, TVN
- Before renovating the property where the Greg Frewin Theatre is, it held an entertainment facility called CyberPort. There were some legal problems with the contractors and CyberPort.
From Niagara This Week:
The grassroots citizens group which successfully lobbied the Niagara Parks Commission to scrap plans for a controversial gondola ride at Table Rock in 2004 has once again stepped forward, this time to fight a proposal for a hotel expansion the group says will block the final unobstructed view of the falls in the Fallsview district.
Preserve Our Parks, the group which led the fight against the gondola plans, met last week to formulate its strategy to fight the expansion plans for the Marriott Fallsview Hotel.
Mel Grunstein, a member of Preserve Our Parks, said the hotel proposal has the potential to rile up Falls residents.
“The citizens of Niagara Falls are relatively laid back,” said Mel Grunstein. “This proposal is another issue that will awaken the sleeping giant.”
The Niagara 21st Group, owners of the Marriott, asked city hall to release it from a pedestrian deck agreement in place since 1991. The pact, which restricts use of the land and air rights to only a pedestrian deck to the south and east of the current hotel building, originated in the early 1960s.
Niagara 21st made the request so it could move forward with design plans and apply for rezoning for the lands with all the required studies and reports.
Note/Update: A previous commentor had mentioned this a week ago…
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Ed Werner, founding president of Horn Abbot Ltd., which introduced Trivial Pursuit, has been appointed to the board of the Niagara Parks Commission.
A longtime Niagara resident, Werner’s involvement in the success of the Trivial Pursuit board game has been recognized with an Outstanding Business Achievement award from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and induction into the Canadian Toy Industry Hall of Fame. Parks commission Chairman Jim Williams welcomed Werner as a “great acquisition.”
“You need good business sense around the table when you’re making multi-million dollar decisions,” said Williams.
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