By Gina Castellani
NIAGARA FALLS — The first tax break on the north end of Main Street is small: a three-story building, six apartments and one storefront. Public records show it is meant as a test of the city’s larger push to rebuild the corridor.
The Niagara County Industrial Development Agency this month approved a 10-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement and a sales tax exemption for 2109 Main LLC, which is renovating the long-vacant former Fusions nightclub at 2109 Main St. The Niagara Gazette reported that the agency awarded more than $376,000 in incentives.
The developer, Niagara Falls real estate agent Ryan Dallavia, has framed the project as a local bet on a block that has seen redevelopment plans stall before.
“We live and work in Niagara Falls,” Mr. Dallavia told WBEN in an Oct. 6 interview. “I’m willing to take a little bit of a risk.”
What the agency’s documents show
The NCIDA’s project summary, published in its Oct. 14 board packet, puts the project cost at $1,129,700. Of that, $972,000 is construction, $22,000 is acquisition, $18,000 is furniture and equipment, $74,155 is soft costs and $43,545 is “other.” The application projects four new jobs within three years, with an estimated payroll of $260,000.
The agency’s cost-benefit analysis, prepared with the MRB Group calculator the agency uses, values the property tax exemption at $369,811 over the life of the PILOT ($336,203 discounted). It values the sales tax exemption at $40,320, split evenly between state and local shares. No mortgage recording tax break is included.
Together, the exemptions total $410,131 in nominal terms and $376,523 discounted. The analysis projects $4.26 million in discounted state and regional benefits, a benefit-to-cost ratio the agency lists as 11 to 1.
One figure doesn’t line up. WBEN’s Oct. 6 report said the developer was seeking “$419,131 in combined sales tax breaks” and a PILOT. The agency’s own table puts total nominal costs at $410,131, a $9,000 difference. The documents do not explain the gap, and it may be a transcription error. The Chronicle has asked the agency to clarify.
The Gazette also reported the apartments would be four two-bedroom and two one-bedroom units, renting for about $1,100 a month on average, and that Mr. Dallavia prefers an office tenant for the ground floor.
‘The first of what we hope to be many’
Agency staff describe the deal as a template. “This will be the first of what we hope to be many projects taking place along the north end of Main Street,” Jeremy Geartz, the NCIDA’s director of business development and retention, told WBEN.
Minutes of the agency’s Sept. 9 meeting, when the board accepted the application, record Mr. Geartz saying the incentive is “the same typical 10-year PILOT” the agency gives similar projects, though with more generous abatement percentages for the area. The minutes also record board chairman Jason Krempa calling it “a very important next step” after “a long process” of acquiring properties and building critical mass. Both remarks are summarized, not transcribed verbatim.
Mr. Dallavia said the project depends on more than his building. “We do need certain economies of scale,” he told WBEN. “We need that critical mass.”
The rest of the corridor
That critical mass is what the city is trying to build. Through its Urban Renewal Agency, working with the state, Niagara County and the Niagara Orleans Land Improvement Corp. (NORLIC), the city controls 38 properties on and around the north end of Main Street, according to a city release issued after an Oct. 22 open house. The release says construction is underway at 2109 Main.
At the event, officials outlined roughly $50 million in projected private investment, Buffalo Toronto Public Media reported.
“In a short span of about a year and a half, we now have projects with total projected investment of nearly $50 million in private investment here on Main Street,” Mayor Robert Restaino said, according to BTPM.
About half of that figure is a single proposal: a $25 million plan by Niagara Development Partners to turn 2010 and 2018 Main St. into 100 units of Niagara University student housing. The Chronicle covered that project on Oct. 23. Its principal, Abe Bose, told BTPM that construction could begin in spring 2027, with an opening in 2029.
“It’s not just about replacing blighted structures with modern premium student housing and ground floor retail. It’s about creating an economic engine that brings foot traffic and daily activity back to this block,” Mr. Bose said.
At 1708 Main St., the former Jenss Department Store, a developer is finalizing plans for 32 two-bedroom market-rate apartments and a ground-floor bazaar, the city said.
Meanwhile, NORLIC is managing state-funded stabilization work on buildings no one has claimed yet. The city lists new roofs and framing at 2025 and 2002 Main, roof and subfloor repairs at 1906 and 1908 Main, and a controlled demolition of a collapsed rear roof at 1902 Main. The remaining URA buildings are being weatherized for winter.
“This collaborative initiative is the premier example of what government can accomplish when we work together toward a shared vision,” NORLIC Executive Director Andrea Klyczek, who also leads the NCIDA, said in the release.
Empire State Development President Hope Knight said in the same release that the state’s developer selections “will broaden local ownership, bring new uses and unlock the community’s potential.” BTPM reported that ESD provided $2.5 million to help acquire the dormant properties, and that about $10 million in Downtown Revitalization Initiative money is earmarked for streetscape work between Ontario and Pierce avenues.
The open questions
The biggest projects still have to clear financing and approvals, and residents have watched earlier Main Street plans fade. Mr. Restaino acknowledged as much.
“It’s still a long walk to develop the entire property, and no one’s fooled that our job is done here. But we think that our start is an excellent one,” he said, according to BTPM.
The 2109 Main deal offers an early measuring stick. The agency’s analysis rests on four jobs and six occupied apartments by the summer of 2027, Mr. Dallavia’s target. The agency’s analysis notes that those amounts “will be verified,” and that sales tax exemptions can be recaptured.
The agency’s next regular meeting is Nov. 18.
Photo: The Jenss Department Store ghost sign on Main Street, Niagara Falls. Andre Carrotflower / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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