Riverfront proposal ‘not just for tourists’: Developer
The Riverfront Community development, as proposed, would open in four stages and take about eight years to complete, according to GR (Can) Investment Ltd. chairwoman and CEO Helen Chang.
Plans call for:
A train service linking the Falls area, Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort and the Thundering Waters golf course area.
Chinese-style medical clinics, two parks and a five-street commercial area in an outdoor mallstyle, featuring bars, cafes, restaurants with international themes and menus, shops and entertainment facilities.
It would also offer an AsianEuro art gallery, commercial street spa, vendors selling local produce, a children’s amusement park, rose garden plus tennis and basketball courts and other outdoor sports centres. The YouTube video showing a waterway coursing through it.
With a total of 3,400 dwelling units, most would be geared toward retired people and seniors needing some assistance, as well as townhouses for families. Chang estimated that if the townhouses were available today, they would be offered for about $500,000.
Proponents believe Riverfront would attract about 3.5 million visitors per year and increase the average annual stay in Niagara Falls by tourists by at least one day or a day and a half, which they say would benefit existing tourism-related businesses.
GR (Can) is an arm of Hong Kong-based GR Investment Holdings Ltd., a multi-national real estate and finance firm.
A video of the project, produced by GR (Can), can be viewed on YouTube by searching “Paradise Project.”
But Chang insists Riverfront won’t be a ‘city within a city,’ as some have speculated.
“Absolutely, there will be interaction with the greater community,” she said through an interpreter in an interview last week.
“What we are creating here will have the cuisine, the entertainment, we have experiences and tourism. We are attracting all these elements here and in the end we want all people, it’s not just for tourists.”