Ribbon cutting held for new 76-room Fairfield Inn & Suites: 46,000 s/f

Fairfield Inn & Suites hotel - Niagara Falls, NY

Niagara Falls, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo recently celebrated the completed construction at the new $7 million Fairfield Inn & Suites hotel. The 46,000 s/f, 76-room hotel builds on the growing momentum in the city’s downtown area. The project is expected to create 14 new full-time jobs.

“Niagara Falls is one of our state’s premier tourist destinations and by adding more high quality hotel capacity in the heart of the city, we are making it easier to market all that the region has to offer,” governor Cuomo said. “The Fairfield Inn & Suites will build on our efforts to ensure Niagara Falls’ tourism industry remains a thriving economic engine for years to come.”

Sai Lodging is the developer of the hotel. The project will create new jobs, increase bed tax revenue and expand the city’s inventory of quality hotel rooms. In addition, the project will contribute to creating a dense urban corridor along Rainbow Blvd., USA Niagara Development Corp., a subsidiary of Empire State Development, provided a $125,000 grant for reimbursement of a portion of the capital improvement costs.

The project site is a significant parcel in the downtown tourist district and is located close to Niagara Falls State Park, the Conference & Events Center Niagara Falls, the Seneca Niagara Casino complex and a number of other downtown hospitality establishments.

City of Niagara Falls mayor Paul Dyster said, “We’re so happy to have yet another hotel built in our city. We want to thank governor Cuomo, USA Niagara and Patel for their continued commitment to ensuring Niagara Falls is a world-class tourism destination. Thanks to their confidence in our city, this new hotel will offer guests another high quality lodging option as they enjoy all that our city and region has to offer.”

Including the Fairfield Inn & Suites, downtown Niagara Falls has five new hotels recently completed or currently under construction and one hotel renovation/retail expansion project, totaling nearly 600 new rooms and more than $90 million in total project costs. USA Niagara Development Corp. (USAN), a subsidiary of Empire State Development, has also acquired the historic Hotel Niagara for future development and USAN is working on a development agreement for the Wonder Falls Resort, a proposed adaptive reuse of the former Rainbow Centre Mall that has a hotel component.

New York State is also investing more than $60 million in infrastructure improvements for the Niagara Scenic Parkway (formerly known as the Robert Moses Parkway). The southern section (Riverway Project), with full completion expected in spring 2017, includes $18.8 million to enhance access to the waterfront and to Niagara Falls State Park. This will boost tourism by facilitating hiking, biking, fishing and cross-country skiing, all accessible from city streets for the first time in more than 50 years. The northern section involves removal of an underutilized two-mile segment from Main Street to Findlay Drive to be replaced with open space, scenic overlooks and recreational trails to make the waterfront more accessible. The $42 million project marks the largest expansion of green space since the Niagara Reservation was designed in 1885 and will link the Niagara River Gorge and Falls into a single destination to allow easier access to the water’s edge.