NIAGARA FALLS – The Hamister Group’s plans for a $25 million downtown development project won’t come up before the city Planning Board before its August recess, despite previous expectations.
The Hamister Group, whose plans include a 146-room Hyatt Place hotel and two dozen apartments on Rainbow Boulevard, last month withdrew designs for the project that had been submitted to the city after signing a franchise agreement for the hotel’s flag. The developer said at the time it needed to review design plans with Hyatt officials to make sure what is proposed meets the requirements of the deal. It had hoped its review and any revisions would be completed in time for review at the board’s July 23 meeting.
“There’s just still a lot of design details to work out with Hyatt,” Hamister spokeswoman Andrea Czopp told The Buffalo News on Thursday.
Czopp said she did not know if or how much the designs previously submitted to the city may change because of what’s required under the franchise agreement. The recently withdrawn plans called for an eight-story structure at the project site at 310 Rainbow Blvd., with the apartments planned for the Old Falls Street side of the building.
In addition to the hotel and apartments, plans also call for 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, about which the Hamister Group has been in preliminary talks with local restaurants.
Construction was initially projected to begin in October but was pushed back to next spring as of last month. The delay until September’s Planning Board meeting should not delay the start of construction, Czopp said.
There are also other “moving parts” involving the project, including financial-related issues that still have to be finalized, she said.
The Planning Board meets twice a month, but not at all in August.
“This should all be ironed out by the first meeting in September,” Czopp said.
email: abesecker@buffnews.com
The Hamister Group, whose plans include a 146-room Hyatt Place hotel and two dozen apartments on Rainbow Boulevard, last month withdrew designs for the project that had been submitted to the city after signing a franchise agreement for the hotel’s flag. The developer said at the time it needed to review design plans with Hyatt officials to make sure what is proposed meets the requirements of the deal. It had hoped its review and any revisions would be completed in time for review at the board’s July 23 meeting.
“There’s just still a lot of design details to work out with Hyatt,” Hamister spokeswoman Andrea Czopp told The Buffalo News on Thursday.
Czopp said she did not know if or how much the designs previously submitted to the city may change because of what’s required under the franchise agreement. The recently withdrawn plans called for an eight-story structure at the project site at 310 Rainbow Blvd., with the apartments planned for the Old Falls Street side of the building.
In addition to the hotel and apartments, plans also call for 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, about which the Hamister Group has been in preliminary talks with local restaurants.
Construction was initially projected to begin in October but was pushed back to next spring as of last month. The delay until September’s Planning Board meeting should not delay the start of construction, Czopp said.
There are also other “moving parts” involving the project, including financial-related issues that still have to be finalized, she said.
The Planning Board meets twice a month, but not at all in August.
“This should all be ironed out by the first meeting in September,” Czopp said.
email: abesecker@buffnews.com