Mayor Jim Diodati will not deliver his annual state of the city address this year as he continues to recover from cancer.

"It's been a long haul and I definitely don't want to slide backwards," he said.

"I'm under the guidance of my oncologist as every week I take on a little bit more, but I just want to make sure that I don't over do it."

Diodati was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma last year, for which he only recently completed chemotherapy.

Despite not giving a formal address this year, the mayor told The Niagara Falls Review that residents should be "pretty excited" about where the city is headed.

Diodati said the city continues to work with Ryerson University representatives and federal officials about an innovation centre in downtown Niagara Falls.

"We anticipate that we're going to have some positive news in the coming weeks - not months, but weeks - and that will work together with the GO train in our downtown as a catalyst to start to rejuvenate and revitalize our downtown," he said.

Diodati said he's going to make the redevelopment of the downtown area a "personal mission" and he plans to work with council and staff "to come up with strategies and solutions to move aggressively" on the issue.

The mayor said he is "embarrassed" by parts of the downtown, describing the situation as a "disgrace."

"Yes, we've had some bright lights and we've had some neat developments, but that whole east end, especially when you go from Erie (Avenue) and you go east to River Road . the word I would use is disgusting."

Diodati said that's not what visitors who take a bus or train into the downtown should be welcomed with, but it is.

"We have already given every opportunity, even all sorts of incentives for some of these absentee landowners to get involved and unfortunately it isn't working and it's not going to work," he said.

"We're going to have to come in as a council and come up with a planning strategy where we can assemble the lands, which will more than likely involve expropriation, where the landowners will get fair market value for what's there and the city has a chance to move forward. We can look for expressions of interest from any entrepreneurs with vision and money, so that we can redevelop (the downtown)."

Diodati said the recent arrival of daily commuter GO train service four years ahead of schedule is also leading regional politicians to "ramp up" inter-municipal bus service.

"No one should expect it to take several hours to get across the region. It has to be efficient. We have to service Brock (University), Niagara College, the hospitals and the shopping centres in an efficient way, both for customers and employees."

He said plans for a new Niagara Falls hospital continue to move forward.

And while people are "anxious" to see shovels in the ground, Diodati said they "need to understand" it takes "years of planning" for a project expected to cost more than $1 billion - and be the biggest capital project in the region's history - to come to fruition.

The hospital is scheduled to be built by 2023 at the corner of Montrose and Biggar roads.

"This is going to have a massive impact on attracting some of the best and brightest health-care minds to Niagara and work in tandem with the hospital in St. Catharines."

Diodati said council can expect to receive an engineer's report this summer on the various Canadian National Railway crossings in the city, and the potential to reroute cargo trains away from the centre of the municipality.

Diodati said once that report is filed, city officials will finalize a business case that will show how rerouting trains can benefit the community and the rail company.

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Also this summer, he said a new 5,000-seat entertainment theatre will open, which will require the city to have "massive" transportation plans in place to handle the increased traffic.

"We have to have an efficient and expedient way to get people in the city, parked and to the show and then we have to have it just as efficient for them to leave the city because if they have a bad experience, they won't want to come back. We're working very closely with our traffic engineers and our consultants to come up with a plan."

Diodati said he's expecting the "major retailer" that will be setting up shop at Niagara Square will "very soon be making a positive announcement."

He said the announcement will confirm "a lot of people's suspicions on what's coming to Niagara Falls and its timeline on when it's going to come to Niagara Falls."

"I know that there are going to be a lot of happy shoppers when this announcement gets made."

Bayfield Realty Advisors Inc., the majority owner of the shopping mall, announced in October a new 100,000-square-foot store will open at the Montrose Road property in 2020.

Rumours have been swirling for more than a year that Costco Wholesale, which has stores in St. Catharines and Stoney Creek, was looking for a new home in Niagara.

Diodati would not confirm or deny that the mega-store will be Niagara Square's new tenant and Bayfield officials have said the retailer has asked that its identity not be made public at this time.

"Because of all the positive activity in the city and the confidence that's been brewing in the business community, you're going to start to see a number of cranes going up in the city and specifically around the tourist area," said Diodati.

"There's been some major purchases of lands and . there are some big, international developers that are at the planning stages and waiting to make their announcements."

He said that will be good news for local tradespeople, who "are going to be very busy. It's going to create more permanent jobs as well, and it's going to feed into what we've been trying to do in the city with more positive growth."

Raymond.Spiteri@niagaradailies.com

905-225-1645 | @RaySpiteri