Even after the building is up the salesmen continue to sell, explain and validate. The man behind the 6th largest mall in America stood in the center of Destiny USA that is known as the canyon. Bob Congel beamed over the achievement of expanding the 22 year old mall into a 2.4 million square feet property loaded with restaurants, entertainment and shopping that is unique to Central New York.
Just a few weeks ago Congel had notified the City of Syracuse that this would be the final phase of Destiny. All the dreams of an emerald city or an indoor Erie Canal had long evaporated, but now even the promise of building an on-site deluxe hotel had been broken.
Suddenly today Congel and his longtime friend and partner Bruce Kenan were planting seeds for further expansion in the future. Kenan explained how the declaration of a final phase did not necessarily mean the final phase. It just meant they would no longer ask government to back the borrowing that was the foundation of the financing of this expansion.
Bob Congel agreed with Kenan that more could come at a later date, but he did not step away from his view of the importance of government support. "Hopefully we can continue to increase what we do in this community. It's always up to government and it's their choice," said Congel.
It was rather shocking to hear the word government as the key to future development. The developer had made it sound like government is what stopped the Pyramid Companies from the full build out of those expansive renderings over the last decade. That couldn't be further from reality.
It was the abundantly generous package of bonding, Payment in Lieu of Tax deals and other tax credits that put this project into a category never before seen in Central New York if not all of the state and maybe the country. That complex arrangement of local, state and federal tax benefits made the project highly profitable for the builder.
Congel reminded everyone today that this mall took the place of a polluted, toxic junkyard and acres of oil tanks that once stood nearby. It certainly did. Shoppers and other Destiny guests will not think twice about the finances that made it all happen.
Although the developer should think twice before considering any plan that would ask government again to dig further into the pockets of the people if he wants to stretch out a few more blocks in the years to come.
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