Niagara Falls Plans Student Housing in Long-Vacant Main Street Building as Revitalization Push Continues

Niagara Falls has announced plans to convert a Main Street building that has sat empty for decades into housing for Niagara University students, marking a significant step in the city's ongoing effort to revive a long-neglected downtown corridor.

The building, located at 2018 and 2010 Main Street, has been boarded up since at least 2007. Developer Abe Bose said he intends to invest $25 million to transform it into 100 units of student housing, along with commercial space.

"It's not just about replacing blighted structures with modern, premium student housing and ground-floor retail," Bose said. "It's about creating an economic engine that brings foot traffic and daily activity back to this block."

The project is part of a broader redevelopment plan first announced in 2024. For decades, several blocks of Main Street have been left to deteriorate, and the city set out to bring new life to a number of long-forgotten buildings there.

Under that plan, the City of Niagara Falls, led by Mayor Robert Restaino, acquired 38 properties on Main Street between Ontario Avenue and Michigan Avenue from absentee landlords. The city intends to resell them to new developers through incentivized deals. Among the properties are places that hold strong memories for residents, such as Jenss Department Store and The Rapids Theater.

"It's not going to be the Main Street of our childhood. It's going to be better," Restaino said in 2024.

According to Restaino, the city has now reached deals on a little less than half of the 38 properties. "I would say we are at least in the 20s of properties we still have that we're looking to develop," he said. He described the student housing project as what was initially seen as the linchpin or centerpiece of the Main Street plan, and said it is now moving forward.

Restaino said he hopes the project will serve as a catalyst that draws additional developers to the corridor. "Collectively, there's in excess of $50 million of private investment here," he said.

Projects currently underway include both market-rate apartments and commercial buildings, each with its own completion timeline. Restaino said he hopes to see the Niagara University housing open in late 2028.