Oct. 19–An Amherst construction management company, already active in the changing face of downtown, has begun work on two new projects — a new Tony Roma’s restaurant and a complete renovation of a vacant hotel on Buffalo Avenue overlooking the Niagara River.
The three partners of the company, standing at the site of what will soon be a new Doubletree Hotel, said that doing business in the city has been great.
“This is our third and fourth project in Niagara Falls,” said James Carminati, a principal partner at Waterbourne Construction Advisors and a Youngstown resident. “It’s great to see things are finally starting to happen here.”
Anthony D’Auria, also a principal partner at Waterbourne, said that his company will also oversee the work on a new Tony Roma’s being built at the Holiday Inn at 114 Buffalo Ave. along with a two-story gaming arcade at the site.
Waterbourne was expecting to begin demolition Saturday on portions of the former Fallside Hotel and Conference Center at 401 Buffalo Ave. It’s all part of a $26 million renovation into a Doubletree Hotel with a 10-story tower.
Both projects are being undertaken for hoteliers Ashak Merani and his son Faisal Merani of the Merani Hotel Group, owners of the Holiday Inn, The Four Points by Sheraton and the Days Inn & Suites, along with the Sterling Hotel and Spa and a Days Inn in Niagara Falls, Ont.
“We’re breaking ground immediately on the Tony Roma’s,” said D’Auria. He said the project should move quickly because there’s no demolition involved. Expected completion of both the restaurant and the gaming arcade is May of 2015.
The project is in line to receive a total of $1.1 million in financial assistance from the city and New York’s Empire State Development Corp.
Waterbourne has been taking an active role in the changing face of downtown. The company is also the lead agent on the rebuild of Hotel Niagara with developer Harry Stinson and was also construction manager for the renovation of the Merani’s Sheraton Four Points, completed in 2011. The company is also overseeing the construction of the $14 million Lockport Ice Arena and Sports Complex, which is expected to be completed in December.
The construction advisers expressed satisfaction with the city’s handling of their projects, thus far.
“From the mayor to the planning and inspections department, everybody has been great to deal with,” said Peter Savarino, a managing partner at Waterbourne. “The city did a great job in shepherding us through the construction process.”
“Now you’ve got department heads saying, ‘yes, we can make that work,'” he added.
The mayor, contacted afterward, was happy that efforts to streamline the process for developers have had an impact on those bringing new construction to the city.
“Rightly or wrongly, the city had a reputation as being difficult to do business in,” Dyster said. “We decided to do what we could do to facilitate work on the part of the developers.”
Since Dyster took office, the administration, he noted, has also become more experienced at helping developers navigate the construction codes and requirements.
“We now have considerable experience advancing projects,” he said, citing the reconstruction of Lewiston Road, phase one of Buffalo Avenue reconstruction, the completion of the public safety building on Main Street, the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute and the train station now under construction, among the many projects his administration has overseen.
Brett Stewart, regional director of operations for the Merani Hotel Group, called the two new Merani projects “very exciting.”
He said the new Doubletree, part of the Hilton Hotel family, will have 194 rooms and a steakhouse-themed family restaurant as well as over 16,000 square feet of banquet space with balconies overlooking the Niagara River.
“We’ve been invested in the downtown Niagara Falls market for years as a hotel company,” he said. “We’ve seen year after year growth and we’re just hoping to continue with the positive movement that’s happening in the city.”
