As everyone in Niagara Falls knows, the city is in a major fight to control property that is currently owned by Niagara Falls Redevelopment. To take possession of this property will cost at least $20 million.
NFR would like to build a data center at this location. First, what is a data center, and do we need this? Unknowingly we all use data centers! It is the cloud that holds all your data such as your photos and everything else you can think of! More importantly every company like Apple, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Google need data centers, just to name a few. As Ai continues to grow the need is greater.
This is not the same as bitcoin mining which causes very high-nuisance noise. In fact, the noise coming from a data center is about the same as an electric toothbrush, 65 decibels.
Why build it here? Because Infrastructure is here and it is perfect for a data center’s need. Data centers require a huge amount of water to cool the computers that store the information. The river also can be used to produce the electricity that is required to run this equipment.
While talking about computers, these are not your typical laptops. In fact, they cost between $4 million to $5 million dollars and must be replaced 2 to 3 times a year, with an 8% sales tax to the state and city.
The personnel to run these would need to be highly trained and be well paid! Think about our high school, current universities and colleges teaching advance technology to your kids these for these high-paying jobs. Finally, a trade to keep your kids at home!
Economics impacts are substantial! An estimated 1,688 union jobs during construction with wages of $78 million! During the operation phase it would be 160 jobs, with $80 million in wages. Of course, there is always a ripple effect of almost 500 new jobs with additional wages of over $15 million.
Centennial Park, the city is pursuing a buy out of this property of $20 million and a decade to get control of this property. Maybe that’s why it is call Centennial Park to accomplish it this century with a cost of $150 million to build and very possibility much more.
With no clear tenant for this park, it seems the city is working on the “Field of Dreams” scenario, “Build it and they will come!” They also hope that the state will come and finance this deal. Let’s face it, the state is committed to financing other responsibilities. Then cost will become the responsibility of the taxpayers of our city.
The city’s only other way to raise the money to acquire the property would be to issue bonds. They have financial costs, just as loans against CDBG funds do. It will impact the ability of the city to bond for other critical capital projects. These costs will be borne by the city and its taxpayers — including in limiting its ability to raise money through future bond issuance.
What has happened to our city? Drive down Main Street then on to Pine Ave. All you will see is closed buildings. It seems every time a project to rebuild and develop it is held up in court! Such as the data center, Niagara Hotel, and many other projects. Yes, there were many hotels recently opening in the tourist center, however nothing is going on in other parts of the city. Even Kevin O’ Leary “Mr. Wonderful” is quoted as saying he would never invest in Niagara Falls! Why? Because of local politics?
Over the past few decades Niagara Falls Redevelopment has shown a poor history of development. In fact they have done nothing! However, the data center would see a huge return on their investment. For this reason, I am sure that after the $3 million invested so far this project will be built.
The only thing left for the city to do is sit down, discuss the terms and conditions to move this project forward. NFR said they are prepared, once the title is cleared, to start building within a month to six weeks. So why not let them do it?
What I am saying to the city government is let NFR build the “dam” data center, take the deal to build the Centennial Park “Field of Dreams” on the west side of the property and let our city grow and prosper, rather than put additional taxes on us.