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Doug Ford’s vision to develop Niagara Falls into a colder and wetter Las Vegas is looking a bit more realistic, with the Ontario tourist hotspot approving a new resort-style hotel sure to be a new destination for the city.
Developer Great Lakes Entertainment Canada filed ambitious plans back in June for a new hotel complex that would bring some impressive attractions to Niagara Falls, including a massive tropical atrium and an entire exhibition hall dedicated to ice sculptures.
The 17-storey building, designed by TAES Architect, would rise from the southeast corner of Bender Street and Palmer Avenue, and bridge over a portion of Ontario Avenue in Niagara Falls’ tourist-packed Clifton Hill area.
Since first proposed earlier this year, the plan has evolved to feature 393 hotel rooms (reduced from the initial plan’s 402 suites) along with some impressive amenities for both hotel guests and tourists exploring the area.
The latest vision includes a space dubbed an Ice Sculpture Exhibition Hall on the 4th and 5th floors. Ice sculpture exhibits are a popular outdoor activity nationwide, though typically limited to colder winter months. However, this new multi-level indoor space has the potential to make Niagara Falls a year-round destination for ice sculpture artists and enthusiasts.
If icy cold isn’t your thing, don’t worry. This new hotel has warm-weather types covered, too, with a plan to include an enormous atrium boasting lush tropical gardens. This space is planned to span from the 6th to the 14th floor of the building, and would prove a signature attraction of the complex.
All of these features seem to dovetail with Doug Ford’s dream of a frozen, mist-iced Vegas North. But nothing says Vegas like a buffet to stuff your face between hitting the casinos and taking in the tourist traps of Clifton Hill.
The project does not mess around with its buffet dining experience, which will be perched on the 17th and uppermost floor of the building, offering commanding views of the falls for diners.
The plan also calls for a pair of retail stores, public realm improvements and streetscaping, and a parking component for 315 vehicles.
On Tuesday, Niagara Falls’ city council approved the project’s proposed rezoning and official plan amendments, giving the greenlight to yet another major complex in a growing collection of large-scale projects set to transform the tourist hotspot in the coming decades.
Currently home to a vast swath of surface parking, the project site would position this new hotel at the centre of an area with significant changes on the horizon.
Casino Niagara’s entertainment complex exists just west of the development site, and the owners have proposed a new 57-storey hotel with an observation deck that would draw significant tourism to the immediate vicinity.
The area is also home to a large indoor waterpark, as well as an aviary that is currently zoned to host a future 60-storey hotel.
According to the project team, the project — if built — will provide approximately 250 new employment opportunities.
