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Senecas acquire splash park
By Denise Jewell
Niagara Gazette
The Seneca Nation of Indians acquired an 18.9-acre splash park near John B. Daly Boulevard on Thursday through the state’s power of eminent domain, clearing the way to develop most of land promised for the Seneca Niagara Casino.
The Seneca Nation now owns four-fifths of roughly 50 acres of downtown property pledged by Gov. George Pataki in a 2002 gaming compact that allowed the Senecas to operate a casino in Niagara Falls.
The Senecas obtained the splash park after a two-step transfer under a court order signed by State Supreme Court Judge Ralph Boniello III on Wednesday.
Fallsite, a limited liability corporation controlled by attorney John Bartolomei and Niagara Falls Redevelopment, transferred ownership of the Fallsville Splash Park to the state’s Empire State Development Corp. The state agency then transferred title of the land to the Seneca Nation on Thursday morning.
The final price of the land will be determined by the court.
Phil Pantano, a spokesman for the Seneca Gaming Corp., said the Senecas have no plans to open the facility as a water park, but instead will use the property for future casino expansion.
A master plan disclosed by the Seneca Nation in state documents show the Seneca Gaming Corp. plans to add two more hotels with interconnected gaming floors, entertainment, restaurants and other attractions to its complex.
“We’re going to revisit the master plan that was done four years ago and look at what the appropriate next development should be,” Pantano said.
The Seneca Nation has not yet acquired two other key pieces of land in the footprint promised in the compact, Pantano said, including a Pizza Hut restaurant and a Holiday Inn.
Four legal challenges to the state’s use of eminent domain to acquire the properties for the Seneca Nation were all either dismissed or withdrawn. The Appellate Division of the state’s Supreme Court dismissed the last of the four challenges on July 7.
Although the Senecas made an undisclosed advance payment for the land, Bartolomei said he and NFR plan to challenge the sale price of the park property.
Bartolomei declined to disclose the amount of the advance payment.
“We can’t bias the court on a future compensation hearing,” he said.
The city has assessed the property at $10.1 million.
The state promised to use its power of eminent domain to acquire land for the Senecas in the 2002 gaming compact.
Thursday’s land transfer was also the latest legal development in a 20-year history of the splash park that has been marked by a complex series of lawsuits between the city of Niagara Falls and a private partnership that built the park.
Construction of the outdoor splash park in 1986 and 1987 was partially funded with $9.3 million in federal money distributed through the city. Under the city’s agreement, its developer, Niagara Venture, was to build the park and then lease it from the city until the federal money was paid back.
Bartolomei said the park cost $19.9 million to construct.
However, the city took control of the park in 1992 after initiating foreclosure proceedings for unpaid lease payments and water bills. Niagara Falls operated the park through 1996.
The park closed between 1997 and 2004. It reopened last year after an affiliate of NFR acquired the property for $3 million from the city through a settlement that ended several lawsuits over the property.
The park is closely intertwined with NFR’s plans to develop 142 acres across the street from the Seneca’s footprint.
NFR and several entities affiliated with the firm have been piecing together parcels of land that include the shuttered Nabisco plant. NFR now controls nearly all of the land between Buffalo Avenue and Niagara Street that fronts John B. Daly Boulevard across from the splash park.
Bartolomei said NFR is closely watching what the Seneca Gaming Corp. plans to build on the splash park property as the firm determines its plans for its land.
“The Senecas are kind of changing the face of the world there as they go,” Bartolomei said. “To the extent that they now have this 20 acres ... it impacts the plan across the street.”
Fallsite did not challenge the state’s eminent domain proceedings to acquire the shuttered water park despite claims by Bartolomei that he planned to take the fight all the way to the nation’s Supreme Court.
Bartolomei said Howard Milstein, a New York City billionaire who has backed NFR, chose not to challenge the proceedings so that development could move forward.
NFR’s plans to develop its 142 acres relies heavily on the Seneca Nation expanding its operations to John B. Daly Boulevard.
“Had we gone with the challenge we would be in court for about four years,” Bartolomei said. “From my estimation we probably would have won, but what effect that would have had on the whole project probably would have been negative.”
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