The still-shuttered Hotel Niagara, in Niagara Falls, NY, opened in 1925 and has hosted a roster of famous people from Frank Sinatra to Joe DiMaggio. Now, it could come under new ownership. Buffalo Business First reports that Pittsburgh-based GreatStay Hospitality Partners and ANF Financial are negotiating with the hotel's current owner, Canadian developer Harry Stinson, to acquire the property and, reportedly, brand it as a Radisson property.
The deal remains in the negotiation stage and is far from complete with many issues still to be addressed, Buffalo Business First writes.
The 12-story Hotel Niagara has been plagued by ownership issues and financial concerns dating back to the early 1970s.
From Wikipedia:
The property closed for renovations in 2007, which never took place. In 2010, the property was foreclosed by the State Bank of Texas, which expressed no interest in ownership, after the owners, Amidee Hotels & Resorts, abandoned the property and allowed it to fall into foreclosure after their parent company, Amidee Capital Group, LLC, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. The building was condemned by the Niagara Falls Department of Code Enforcement after the heating system failed, which caused water pipes in the building to burst. The city shut off the water when that happened, leaving the building without running water or a functional fire sprinkler system, which constitutes several code violations.
In April 2011, the property was sold at a foreclosure auction for $1,250,000 to Jamil Kara, a developer from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He told the Niagara Falls, N.Y. Gazette that he planned to convert the building into a five-star hotel and condominium.
In September 2011, the hotel changed hands once again after Toronto developer Harry Stinson arranged to buy the building from Kara for an undisclosed amount. Stinson announced that he plans to bring the hotel back to its original look with an emphasis on 1920s design with a few new added facilities. His company, Stinson Developments,[3] had estimated that they would finish by summer 2013. As of early April 2015 it is still closed and work is incomplete.