Wintergarden Sale Pending

Denise Jewell Gee reports at the Buffalo News that the sale of the Wintergarden could be complete this week.

NIAGARA FALLS — The state’s Niagara Falls development agency could close on a deal to buy the Wintergarden as early as this week so that it can move forward with a plan to demolish the former arboretum this spring.

The agency, USA Niagara Development Corp., will also seek bids until Tuesday for demolition of the eight-story glass building.

USA Niagara plans to replace the building with a cobblestone street that would run between the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel and an entrance to Niagara Falls State Park.

But a group of residents still wants city and state leaders to save the building or incorporate its glass frame into the design.

“People need to come to the city and have something else to do except look at the falls and then walk over to gamble,” Youngstown resident Joan Broderick said. “We are supposed to be different than the other side of the falls. Ours is supposed to be a family place.”

Construction work started last fall to convert a nearby pedestrian walkway known as the West Mall into a cobblestone street.

The closed Wintergarden blocks the state from connecting the new street to a section of cobblestone road, completed nearly two years ago, that runs between the casino and the Wintergarden.

The state has set aside $7.9 million for the entire project, including reconstructing the street and buying the Wintergarden.  Tthe state’s tentative schedule for demolition is to begin the work in mid- April and to complete it by summer once the agency selects a demolition contractor and finalizes the purchase deal.

History of the Wintergarden

The Wintergarden operated as a free public garden until 2003, when the city sold the building to a group of investors that included Anderson.