City extends Carousel Center expansion deadline for the 2nd time
Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner and developers of the Destiny USA project have made negotiations to extend the completion deadline for the Carousel Center expansion.
The Destiny USA project involves adding retail tenants, restaurants and entertainment to the existing Carousel Center. It is the largest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified commercial retail project in the country, according to the project’s website.
The negotiation will extend the project’s tax exemptions for another six months, provided that developer Robert Congel pays the city of Syracuse $1 million, according to a June 7 article in The Post-Standard.
This is the second extension Congel has received from the city to complete the addition. The Syracuse Industrial Development Agency temporarily suspended a deadline in 2009 after Citigroup Global Markets Realty Corp. stopped funding a construction loan due to a dispute with Congel, according to the article. Developers began construction on the Destiny USA project in March 2007.
‘The terms of the agreement are very simple,’ Miner said in a video of a June 6 news conference. ‘The city of Syracuse is going to get a million dollars, and in exchange, Destiny will get a six-month extension to meet the deadlines that are set forth in the agency agreement.’
At least half of the $1 million paid by Congel will be used to supplement the city’s demolition budget through SIDA, which was depleted due to a spring storm this year, Miner said.
After the first expansion is completed, a second phase involving the construction of a 1,342-room hotel and a third phase to build 350,000 square feet of new retail space will begin, according to the article.
Miner said the people of Syracuse have been patiently waiting for the long-promised benefits of the Destiny USA project, and an empty expansion is not in their best interest. The extension gives Destiny developers an opportunity to perform and make the expansion beneficial to the community as a whole, she said.
‘This is a balancing act,’ Miner said. ‘This project is over 10 years in the making, and to use a sports analogy, we’re in the fourth quarter.’
Published on June 12, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Contact Breanne: brvannos@syr.edu | @bre_vann
