I Returned to the Abandoned Hockey Arena and Sand Sculpture Museum

Back in 2019 a video that I posted of an abandoned arena in Niagara Falls, made some waves with city council, making its way all the way to the Mayor of the city.

2019 Video Here:
   • Exploring an Abandoned Hockey Arena a...  

In the article, the mayor commented that he was going to speak with city staff to find out more about the ownership status of the building, and what options are out there for redevelopment of the property.

The mayor went on to say that the city would like to see the owners either develop the property or sell it for development.

The building, as of 2019 was owned by a Russian firm who had put in a sand sculpture museum in the old arena - a business that would flop due to lack of interest by the city, the general public and the tourists.

The mayor continued "to have it sit there as a vacant arena/sand sculpture display, it's kind of sad to see this place, where some of the greatest players in NHL history played, reduced to this."

Diodati said while he does not condone people trespassing on private property, he hopes the YouTube video will draw attention to the building.

Some time later, I was doing homeless outreach with my friend sosincere and we decided to check in on the old arena, as it’s known to have homeless people inside it quite frequently

It turns out that the mayor and city council had not had any success in getting the building either secured or sold/developed, infact the homeless problem inside is worse than it was in 2019, and the damage to the building and its structure is now far beyond repair.

2019 Photo Gallery:
https://freaktography.com/abandoned-h...

The Niagara Falls memorial Arena was constructed in 1950 and would be home to various hockey teams from the Niagara Falls Thunder, Flyers and the Canucks. In 1968 the arena hosted 5 games played in the 1968 memorial cup, won by the Flyers on their home ice.

Over the years the arena was used for events such as wrestling, boxing as well as the annual remembrance day ceremony, a ceremony that I attended every year with my grand father from 1994 through 2009.

In 2010 the arena was closed when the city opened a new arena with multiple pads called The Gale Centre.

In 2012 the 62 year old arena was sold to a Russian consortium for just over $1,000,000, $400,000 below the cities asking price, the Russian consortium created a sand Sculpture museum.

Dubbed the largest sand sculpture exhibition in north america with sand sculptures that depicted the history of Niagara Falls and dedicated to the War of 1812 and 200 years of peace and friendship on North American continent.
This business venture was a predictable failure and by 2012 the ownership fell into financial difficulties and was put up for sale in 2014 for $3,000,000, that price was dropped two years later to $1.7 million dollars.

With 200 parking spaces and located in the heart of the busy Niagara Falls tourist area it would be a fantastic investment - but that was before covid-19.

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Freaktography: Exploring forgotten and abandoned places from all over Ontario, Quebec, New York State, Michigan, Indiana and more.

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