Mayor Robert Restaino announced Friday that his proposed $250 million arena and events center project has made a regional business group’s advocacy list for 2026.
During his weekly update from inside his office in city hall, Restaino said the Buffalo Niagara Partnership — a regional chamber of commerce that serves as a privately funded economic development organization for the area — has added Centennial Park to its annual advocacy agenda, which is the group’s list of priorities it deems important to strengthening the local economy.
“That’s a good thing, obviously, because the more voices we have advancing the need for this in the region, the better. Additionally, it reflects really what we all hope for this project, that it is a regional one, one that helps all of the communities around us.”
The partnership’s 2026 advocacy agenda describes the as-yet-funded 6,000-seat venue and mixed campus as being capable of hosting sporting events, concerts, indoor and outdoor gatherings, and educational and cultural activities.
“Centennial Park will attract new, non-traditional visitors, result in longer lodging stays and create new entertainment and jobs near Niagara Falls,” the agenda reads. “A feasibility study revealed that such a complex would generate $50 million of direct economic impact over the first five years. State funding is needed to support the construction of the park.”
The group’s annual agenda includes another local project, the ongoing development of a 60-acre business park on county-owned land in the Town of Cambria. The item notes that the county is working to secure state matching grant funds for the project and is collaborating with the state to assess the feasibility of bringing high-capacity transmission lines to the site.
Buffalo’s vacant rental program, which is designed to spur private investment in existing housing stock in the city, and infrastructure improvements for the Erie County Agribusiness Park in the Town of Evans, round out the agenda list.
The release of the partnership’s annual agenda comes as the city’s outside legal team from the law firm Hodgson Russ is involved in court-involved talks with the private firm Niagara Falls Redevelopment on a settlement of outstanding claims related to the site where Restaino insists Centennial Park should be built.
The two sides have been at odds for months over the city’s effort to acquire, using its power of eminent domain, 10 acres of NFR land, located off John B. Daly Boulevard at the intersection of 10th and Falls streets, for the purposes of developing Centennial Park.
“We are working toward a resolution in some fashion on the land claims over the course of the next couple of weeks,” Restaino said. “Hopefully, we’ll have some more information for you as this month unfolds.”