Destiny USA
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Destiny USA is the Pyramid Companies of Syracuse, New York's plan to turn Syracuse into a leading entertainment and technology city. The project includes an expansion of the Carousel Center into the country's largest shopping mall, surpassing the Mall of America in size, and a 1 million square foot (93,000 m²) technology complex several miles to the north, in the town of Salina.
The slow-moving project has not been without significant delay and controversy over many years. Opponents of the project have remained skeptical about the array of tax breaks requested by the project's backers, especially as they remain leery of whether the complex can draw the projected number of tourists from surrounding areas to fulfill its economic promises. Local small business owners have also strongly protested a request by Destiny USA to the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA) to seize their property by eminent domain for its proposed technology park in Salina. Business owners formed a coalition, the Salina 29, also known as STOP OCIDA, to fight the expected action.
The development was originally called DestiNY USA, with the "NY" capitalized to emphasize its New York state location. However, current materials from the company no longer feature the capitalization.
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[edit] Entertainment Complex
Plans, which currently include over 4.5 million square feet (400,000 m²), consist of 13,000 hotel rooms, an indoor aquarium, an indoor recreation of the Erie Canal, a stadium and performing arts center, three golf courses, a 100 acre (400,000 m²) glass-enclosed indoor park, and a 20 acre (80,000 m²) artificial lake. This complex is to be known as DestiNY USA, and plans for it were first made public in April 2000. There have been constant struggles with the city, county, state, and federal government for tax relief and financing to make this project a reality.
The Pyramid Cos. claim this resort would create approximately 120,000 new jobs and bring millions of tourists to the Syracuse area. These benefits would be a significant economic boost to the area, which has been hard-hit by corporations downsizing or moving away from Central New York.
[edit] Stages
Announced May 15, 2006:
First stage: 848,000 square feet of leasable retail
Second stage: 38-floor, 1,000-room hotel
Third stage: 350,000 square feet of leasable retail space, possibly replacing the existing mall's parking garages
These three phases are officially simply expansions of the existing Carousel Center. However, the Pyramid Companies have stated that they will contain elements of the planned resort.
[edit] Research and Development Park
On March 3, 2005, The Pyramid Companies announced detailed plans for a 1 million square foot (90,000 m²) technology park at the intersection of Interstate 81 and Interstate 90 in the suburb Salina, approximately four miles (6 km) north of the Carousel Center. The park would host companies that are working on renewable energy, which Destiny itself is planned to use extensively.
The following companies stated intentions to move into the research park:
- Interregnum: Headquartered in London, this technology firm has stated it will open an office in Syracuse, but has not released hiring estimates.
- ThoughtWorks: Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, this technology firm has estimated its hiring needs at 300 people.
- WISeKey: Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, this technology firm has stated that it will locate both its North American headquarters and its technological innovation headquarters in Syracuse, and estimates a need for 500 positions.
These companies announced plans to maintain temporary offices in the Syracuse Technology Garden in AXA Plaza in Downtown Syracuse until DestiNY facilities are completed. As of early 2006, ThoughtWorks and WISeKey no longer maintain offices at the Technology Garden.
[edit] Transportation
Proposals for the Destiny USA complexes include a monorail, which is estimated to cost around $750 million. It would connect Syracuse Hancock International Airport, approximately a mile (2 km) north of the technology complex, to Syracuse University, via the technology complex, the William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center, the entertainment complex, and downtown. This monorail is often mentioned in plans, but no concrete plans have been released yet.
Another transportation device mentioned is Personal Rapid Transit, which presumably will be used to transport visitors across parking lots.
[edit] Project Status
Construction of the $180 million, 47 floor, 1,300 room Grand Destiny hotel was purportedly started on October 24, 2002, with a ceremony during which a steel beam was driven into a Carousel Center parking lot. At least 40 more pilings were driven over the next three weeks, but construction stopped by December 2. The stated reason was a dispute about whether this hotel would be considered "leasable space," which is a term used in the payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement between the county and the developer. However, in a Sept. 28, 2005 deposition, Destiny Chief Executive Officer Michael Lorenz admitted there was "no intention to build anything, per se," when that ceremony was held and that Pyramid did not have final construction plans for the hotel at the time. Under questioning, Lorenz twice mentioned the campaign of incumbent Governor George Pataki, who was up for re-election 12 days after the ceremony, although Lorenz denied a desire to aid Pataki's campaign.[1] As of October 2006, construction has not been re-started.
As of January 2006, Pyramid has not released a tenant list for the mall expansion, citing trade secrets.
January 10, 2006: A planned march on City Hall by Destiny employees was quietly cancelled at the last minute. The following day, Destiny terminated most of its workforce without prior notice (162 construction workers and 28 managers fired out of a total of 210). Destiny and City Hall each blamed the other for the loss of the jobs. Other civic leaders accused the hiring of 180 workers at an average salary of $60,000 per year between August and November 2005 of being a public relations ploy to bring pressure on City Hall, citing Pyramid's lack of interest in the backgrounds and qualifications of the applicants (no resumés were required, and the employee appearing in ads trumpeting the hiring turned out to have a criminal record [2]). Subsequent training of the construction workers was also criticized. Local representatives of the Carpenters and Operating Engineers unions called it the equivalent of a vocational school class and far short of the minimum training required before their apprentice members are even allowed on construction sites. In January 2006 most of those hired with such fanfare were quietly laid off.
January 22, 2006: The Syracuse Post-Standard has declared the R&D Park all but dead, writing "the developer has put this on the back burner ... [sic] and perhaps even taken it off the stove."
January 25, 2006: The Post-Standard reports Congress has approved $1.04 billion of Green Bonds for Destiny, allowing the developer to borrow that amount at low interest rates. The bonds are intended to stimulate the redevelopment of brownfield projects using renewable energy sources. To remain eligible, Destiny must get "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for at least three-quarters of its commercial square footage; build on a remediated brownfield site; construct 1 million square feet of building space or build on at least 20 acres of land; provide 1,000 jobs during construction and 1,500 permanent jobs afterward; and show that the bond proceeds, after financing expenses, will be used to buy, build or integrate renewable energy and sustainable design. The bonds must be sold by Oct. 1, 2009. Destiny officials have said they would need to build 4 million square feet to make the energy aspects feasible.
March 9, 2006: NY State Supreme Court Judge, John Centra, ruled that Pyramid Companies has met all the terms of a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement for an 800,000 square foot expansion of Carousel Center. Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll has been ordered to sign the tax deal, clearing the way for the first phase of Destiny USA. The city eventually appealed the ruling to keep its options open.
May 15, 2006: Mayor Matt Driscoll has formally agreed to grant Pyramid Co. the tax breaks that it has requested; pending approval by city and county lawmakers. In return, the city expects upwards of $100 million in sales tax revenues and guaranteed project fees. Critics and opponents note that the deal between the city and Pyramid makes no mention of Destiny, referring to the deal as only a Carousel Center expansion. Critics include State Senator John DeFrancisco [3]. Pyramid Chairman Robert Congel seemed to confirm the disconnect in a 2005 deposition, saying, "(The) 800,000 square feet is not part of Destiny. It's part of Carousel, and there is an economic program that's put together from the economic agency, that was put together many years ago which has been the somewhat road map to eventually coming to a conclusion that we haven't come to yet in total..." [4]
June 22, 2006: The Syracuse Common Council rejected the Destiny deal negotiated by the city by a 6-3 vote. Councilors cited reasons such as Syracuse corporation counsel Terri Bright not voicing support for the deal that the mayor, her immediate superior, negotiated. Mayor Driscoll refused to deny or confirm Bright's opposition to the plan. One councilor cited a corporation counsel study that concluded the city would lose up to $1 billion in revenue if it signed the $100 million deal. A concern persisted that the deal was not for Destiny but rather for a Carousel Center expansion.
June 30, 2006: Destiny shut down its Adobe Flash-based website, replacing all content with a static Destiny logo, then later with a letter of commitment to the project. The full Flash site was relaunched several weeks later.
July 2, 2006: The six councilors who voted against the deal explained their position in the Syracuse Post-Standard. Their chief objection was the lack of important guarantees in the legislation. "A prime example of the lack of guarantees is illustrated by the mall tenants' lawsuit. If we had passed the legislation June 22 and Lord & Taylor and Kaufmann's win their lawsuit in Appellate Court, Pyramid would not be able to build anything, but would still have a new, 30-year tax deal. The legislation states that if Pyramid cannot build because of an 'unavoidable delay' - such as litigation aimed at stopping construction - the city cannot force Pyramid to build. Pyramid would get the benefit of the Destiny tax break, the community would get no project, and the mall would stay off the tax rolls."[5]
July 5, 2006: Mayor Matt Driscoll and SIDA convened an urgent meeting to create a new agreement with Pyramid which would not require Common Council approval. The mayor ordered corporation counsel Terri Bright to withdraw the previously filed appeal. Bright subsequently asked the court to disregard the withdrawal because the Common Council did not approve it. Driscoll immediately terminated Bright.
July 7, 2006: The Common Council hired attorney John Cirando to argue its case in the state Appellate Court. The council contends the emergency meeting called two days previous with only three hours notice violated the state's open meeting laws, which require 72 hours advance notice. It also contends that the mayor's office does not have exclusive power to withdraw the appeal.[6]
July 10, 2006: Pyramid commits to paying union wage rates or higher to workers who work on the project. The commitment was made in front of the Construction Trades Council.[7]
July 21, 2006: It is made public that "the city will not provide legal advice, or money for outside lawyers, to city councilors dealing with a grand jury investigation launched by District Attorney William Fitzpatrick." [8]
July 25, 2006: The Syracuse Industrial Development Agency votes 5-0 to approve the appointment of Lehman Brothers Inc. as co-senior managing underwriters for the bonds the agency plans to sell to help finance the expansion of the Carousel Center mall. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. will remain co-senior underwriters.[9]
August 17, 2006: The appeal bid by the common council is rejected by the state Appellate Division.[10]
October 24, 2006: The New York State Court of Appeals refuses to hear several major Carousel Center stores' appeal of an Appellate Division decision that upheld the taking of some of their lease rights by the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency. This clears the legal path to construction.[11]
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Destiny's Developer in One Courtroom After Another." Syracuse Post-Standard. April 9, 2006
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Destiny Time?" Syracuse Post-Standard. May 24, 2006
- ^ "Mall Deal: What's in a Name?" Syracuse Post-Standard. May 26, 2006
- ^ "Why we voted 'no' on the Destiny settlement deal." Syracuse Post-Standard July 2, 2006
- ^ "Councilors hire attorney for legal struggle with City Hall" Marnie Eisenstadt, Syracuse Post-Standard. July 7, 2006
- ^ "Congel promises to pay union wages". Rick Moriarty, Syracuse Post-Standard. July 10, 2006
- ^ "City to council: Hire your own lawyers; it's a criminal case". Greg Munno, Syracuse Post-Standard. July 21, 2006.
- ^ "Expansion news: It's the law, not construction". Staff reports, Syracuse Post-Standard. July 23, 2006.
- ^ "Judge: No appeal on mall tax deal". Munno, Greg, Syracuse Post-Standard. August 18, 2006.
- ^ Court of Appeals refuses to hear Carousel stores' appeal December 9, 2006: Destiny officials announce that no construction will begin by the end of 2006 as per their agreement with the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency. - Syracuse.com Destiny USA Updates
