Is Hilton property site of 5,000-seat theatre?
Despite construction starting on one of the rumoured sites for the new 5,000-seat theatre in Niagara Falls, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. still hasn’t officially announced where it will be.
Work has begun in the area behind the Hilton Fallsview Hotel off Stanley Avenue. The fenced-off section is within walking distance of Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort, and satisfies one of the city’s requests that the venue be highly visible to the public.
Hilton general manager Paul Ford did not respond to the Niagara Falls Review’s interview request about the nature of the construction. Asked about the location, OLG spokesman Tony Bitonti said construction on the site “is a Hilton-driven initiative on their parking structure.”
Work on the site began about the time of OLG’s July 11 announcement on the consortium which will build the facility. Niagara Falls Entertainment Partners, which includes Mississauga-based construction company Bird Construction, beat out four other conglomerates for the right to design, build and maintain the new Niagara Falls Entertainment Centre. The theatre is expected to replace the 1,500-seat Avalon Ballroom located inside the Fallsview Casino property.
Bitonti said a location has not yet been announced because the “procurement process” for the theatre is entering into final agreements.
“The financial close will be announced shortly,” he said. “Once the deal closes, we will be more specific on the location.”
Diodati said neither he nor council has received word from OLG on the site, but like everyone else he has noticed construction starting on the Hilton property.
“I just hear what everyone else is hearing, the buzz around town,” he says. “But no one’s actually told me what exactly they’re doing. The last I heard was that (OLG) was finalizing the agreement with the proponent.”
Should the Hilton location be the site, Diodati said “everybody benefits.” It would be near the casino floor and facing a high-traffic area in the tourism district.
“Yes, it’s a busy congested area … so is downtown Toronto,” he says. “You need critical mass, you need it in a place where people can park and walk to it (or) use local transit.
“I think anywhere in that area, they were going to be fine.”
The theatre is expected to bring an additional million visitors per year to Niagara Falls. He feels it will “animate” the surroundings, much like the area of Fallsview Boulevard near the Hilton Hotel.
“We didn’t want to see any walls in the design, we wanted to make sure it was an iconic type of building that had a wow factor. And stimulate the retail and pedestrian walkway.”