| This subarticle is kept separate from the main article, Destiny USA, due to size or style considerations. |
Destiny USA is a major development project in Syracuse, New York, whose many starts, stops, and redesigns played a significant role in media coverage since the project was first announced in April 2000.
Contents |
Carousel Center opened in October 1990 on the site of a former landfill and surrounded by several square blocks of oil tanks known as "Oil City". The Pyramid Companies expanded Carousel Center slightly by 1994, adding a Lord & Taylor store to the west end of the mall. Already before the opening of this addition, Pyramid had proposed opening a strip mall named "Carousel Landing" south of Carousel Center. However, legal disputes to remove both the industrial tenants of Oil City and their soil contamination delayed any construction.[1] In 1997, Pyramid changed its plans, dropping the strip mall and instead proposing to double the size of Carousel Center.[2] On April 30, 2000, Pyramid announced the resort-style project that ultimately became the Destiny USA proposal.[3]
On March 3, 2005, The Pyramid Companies announced detailed plans for a 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 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:
These companies announced plans to maintain temporary offices in the Syracuse Technology Garden in AXA Plaza in Downtown Syracuse until Destiny facilities are completed. Interregnum has since decided to close its U.S. operations.[4] As of early 2006, ThoughtWorks and WISeKey no longer maintain offices at the Technology Garden.
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.
During the early planning, Pyramid's printed materials referred to the project as DestiNY USA, with the "NY" capitalized to emphasize its stated goal to promote tourism throughout Upstate New York. However, current materials from the company, including the Destiny USA website, no longer feature the capitalization, and place less emphasis on this goal than did earlier versions. The project will not assume the name "Destiny USA" until the completion of the second phase of the project. Prior to DestiNY USA, the project was briefly referred to as The Empire Project.[5]
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.[6]
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[7]). 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.
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 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m2) of building space or build on at least 20 acres (81,000 m2) 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 October 1, 2009. Destiny officials have said they would need to build 4,000,000 sq ft (370,000 m2) 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 (74,000 m2) 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.[8] Pyramid Chairman Robert Congel seemed to confirm the disconnect in a 2005 deposition, saying, "(The) 800,000 sq ft (74,000 m2) 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..."[9]
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."[10]
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.[11]
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.[12]
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."[13]
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.[14]
August 17, 2006: The appeal bid by the common council is rejected by the state Appellate Division.[15]
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.[16]
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.[17]
January 31, 2007: The Syracuse Industrial Development Agency authorizes the sale of bonds to finance the first phase of the mall's expansion. Bruce Kenan of the Pyramid Companies states that communication has reinitiated with the 200 workers terminated in January 2006, and that those still available will be rehired.[18]
February 27, 2007 12:00: Syracuse Industrial Development Agency sells bonds in the amount of $322.59 million, securing the funding needed for the Destiny Project to continue.[19] 17:30: Destiny USA ceremonially hands over the amount of $65.4 million to the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency in a presentation in the Carousel Center's Commons Level Atrium. This money, which in reality is to be paid over the course of several years, will be used for downtown parking ($51M), lake front improvements ($5.4M), economic development ($5M to the county, $130K to the city), the OnCenter complex ($1.6M), city neighborhood enhancements ($1.4M) and dome events reimbursement ($400K). It is said that construction of the Destiny Project should begin this spring.
November 8, 2007: Destiny USA issues a press release announcing that phase 2 of the project will consist of a 39 story, 1300 room hotel. The proposed design incorporates numerous environmentally-friendly features such as rooftop photovoltaic cells for energy production, high efficiency LED lighting, and a rainwater collection system for "gray water" usages such as toilet flushing and laundry. At 640 feet (200 m) tall including decorative rooftop design elements, the structure will be the tallest building in upstate New York if completed. Under terms of an agreement with the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency, Destiny USA is required to build at least 1000 hotel rooms by February 1, 2012.[20]
July 2008: Construction was re-started. By August 2008 80% of the original parking lots on the east side of the existing facilities have been closed and at least three stories of steel framework erected.
August 15, 2008: First reported by Italian website ItalPlanet.it but later confirmed by a Destiny USA official, about 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2) dedicated to a "Made in Italy" section with 27,000 square feet (2,500 m2) for restaurants, wine bars, and coffee bars and 150 stores.[21]
May 17, 2009: The Post-Standard reported that phase I of the Destiny USA project will be ready for retail tenants by the summer of 2009. The addition to Carousel Center will feature 900,000 square feet (84,000 m2) of leasable space, as well as a three-story atrium.
June 12, 2009: Citigroup, the primary construction lender, stopped funding the Destiny USA project. Citigroup says that Destiny USA has no tenants lined up for the mall expansion and wants Destiny USA to cover 15.2 million dollars in cost overruns. As a result, construction has come to a virtual halt.[22]
July 21, 2009: Courts ruled in favor of Destiny USA in regards to the conflict with Citigroup, but representatives of the bank stated that Citigroup intends to "intends to pursue its appellate rights" in the case, and it remains unclear when construction will resume.[23]
August 4, 2009: Workers install glass panels on the expansion, yet no other work is being done.[24]
November 13, 2009: The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court upheld the decision ordering Citigroup to resume lending to Destiny USA.[25]
December 2010: Destiny and Citigroup came to a settled loan dispute and according to YNN work will resume on the current expansion with an 87 day timeline to complete the addition or risk losing property tax deals.[26]
May 2011: Construction resumes inside Carousel Center's expansion.,[27] settlement details are released,[28] and the first tenant, a Vince Camuto outlet, was announced.[29] The current Destiny USA website has dropped all the plans beyond the current expansion, which is no longer referred to Arendi.
June 2011: In exchange for $1 million USD, Congel has six months to finish up the current expansion and start on a second phase or risk taxation on the space.[30] Documents show several stores in the new expansion are leased, including Off 5th.[31] A Q&A with Syracuse Post-Standard was done in June asking what would people like to see in Destiny USA. It is mentioned that the "Made In Italy" feature has been cancelled.[32]
November 2011: The first sections and stores of a 1,300,000 sq ft (120,000 m2) expansion open to the public, with an official opening scheduled for spring 2012.[33] Pyramid estimates the expansion will house 100 businesses.[34] 21 retailers and restaurants have committed to the project.[35] The project also receives a new financing package from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. [36]