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Developer Robert Congel released this drawing of his proposed 1,342-room Grand Destiny hotel in 2007. Designed to resemble giant blades of grass, the hotel was to be built behind his Destiny USA shopping mall in Syracuse, but construction never happened. Now the developer is making inquiries about getting a tax deal for a new expansion, possibly including a hotel, at the mall.

Syracuse, NY -- Destiny USA developer Robert Congel is looking to go around his old nemesis, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, for his next big tax deal.

Congel's development team approached a key Onondaga County official last month about having the county's industrial development agency provide tax exemptions for future expansions of Destiny USA, the Syracuse shopping mall formerly known as the Carousel Center.

Onondaga County Legislature Chairman Ryan McMahon said Destiny USA representatives asked him whether he would support a proposal to have the county IDA provide a property tax exemption for an expansion that likely would include a hotel.

McMahon said Destiny officials are convinced that the city's IDA would reject any request for a new tax deal for the super-regional mall, which already is the beneficiary of a 30-year property tax exemption granted by a previous city administration.

McMahon, R-Syracuse, said he would support having the Onondaga County IDA give Congel a tax deal for additional expansions of the mall, but that any deal would depend on what the addition would consist of and how it would benefit the city and county economy. He said he would support any expansion that would generate new sales tax revenues for local government.

Developer Robert Congel has been talking about building a hotel at his Destiny USA mall, formerly known as the Carousel Center, for more than 10 years. He released this rendering of a proposed hotel at the mall in 2002 and even held a groundbreaking ceremony for it that year. No construction on the hotel occurred, though.

"They asked me what my thoughts were in going through OCIDA," he said. "I told them my thoughts were that OCIDA can do deals anywhere in the county, but the devil is in the details."

Destiny USA executive David Aitken declined to comment on the developer's interest in a tax deal from the county, saying "no specific requests have been made."

Aitken said project officials are "beginning to look at what else might make sense on site" but had no specific time frame for another expansion of the mall.

"We are very pleased with the continued momentum of Destiny USA: additional new businesses opening, increased jobs, as well as more and more visitors coming to the area from greater distances," he said in an emailed statement.

"We've always hoped to do more, as we've consistently said, even as we pressed the 'pause' button on further development plans last June," he said. "Our number one priority is to drive visitors to Destiny USA and find ways to partner with the city and the county to attract tourists to everything Central New York has to offer."

McMahon's support would be vital for any tax deal involving the county IDA because, as chairman of the Legislature, he essentially appoints the agency's seven directors. The full Legislature votes on the appointments, but it can only approve or reject the people he nominates.

The five members of the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency, on the other hand, are appointed by Miner, who during her days on the Syracuse Common Council was a vocal critic of the 30-year property tax exemption that Congel got from former Mayor Roy Bernardi.

Bernardi, with the Common Council's consent, gave Congel the tax deal in exchange for a promise to expand the mall into a world-class tourist destination that would help transform not just the Central New York economy, but the Upstate economy as well.

Miner has said the deal was overly generous and expressed doubts that the developer would make good on his grand promises.

Miner declined through a spokesman to comment on Congel's interest in a tax deal from the county.

"We are not going to comment on what is still speculation," the spokesman, Alexander Marion, said.

The existing tax deal called for Congel to build at least three additions to what was then called the Carousel Center. The first would be a 1.3-million-square-foot expansion. The next two would be a 1,342-room hotel and an additional 350,000 square feet of retail space that could be an expansion of the mall's footprint or a conversion of its basement parking garage.

With much fanfare, Congel held a public groundbreaking ceremony, attended by 3,000 guests including then-Governor George Pataki, for the proposed Grand Destiny hotel in October 2002.

In 2007, Congel made public renderings of his proposed $450 million hotel, a 39-story building shaped like giant blades of grass that he said would be the state's tallest building outside of New York City. No actual construction on the hotel ever took place, though.

After years of delay, Congel did build a 1.3-million-square-foot addition to the mall, which he renamed Destiny USA. The addition was completed last year. Shortly afterward, the developer told the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency that he would build no more additions under the tax deal.

The move ended any obligation he had to meet the building requirements and deadlines in the tax agreement, but he got to keep the 30-year tax exemption on what he had already built. His announcement infuriated city officials an confirmed for critics what they had said all along -- that the developer would build only enough to lock in his tax deal.

McMahon declined to say who from Congel's team approached him about getting a tax deal from the county IDA, but he said it was not Congel himself. He said the subject came up during a meeting at the mall that he holds with Destiny officials every other month to get updates on the developer's progress in filling the mall addition with tenants and the mall's success in generating sales tax dollars for city and county governments.

The Destiny officials provided no specifics on what new expansion they were planning, other than that it likely would include a hotel, he said. McMahon said he's not sure he would support an expansion that consisted of a hotel only. He said he would prefer to see additional retail space, in addition to a hotel.

Construction on a 1.3-million-square-foot expansion of the Destiny USA shopping mall, formerly the Carousel Center, in Syracuse was completed last year. A spokesman says developer Robert Congel is beginning to look at possible new additions to the site.

There is debate within economic development circles whether it makes sense to give tax exemptions to hotels. Supporters say hotels are good for a local economy because they help draw visitors from outside the area. Critics say hotels will only go where there are enough visitors to fill the beds and that government subsidies, such as property tax exemptions, are unnecessary.

McMahon said he got the impression that the developer was in the very preliminary stage of planning for a new expansion and was not close to making a formal proposal.

He said he assumes Destiny officials have approached, or will approach, County Executive Joanie Mahoney for her support, too.

Mahoney does not appoint OCIDA's members, but her economic development staff doubles as the agency's staff and would negotiate the details of any tax agreement.

Mahoney, who has frequently spoken in support of the mall and its existing tax deal, was not available for comment about Congel's latest move. Ben Dublin, her chief of staff, said in an email that she has not received "any proposal or specific request from Destiny."

"At this point, any discussion about Destiny is purely speculative," he said. "There

hasn't been any proposal or request, so it's not possible to say if the county executive

would or would not be supportive."

It's unclear whether the city would have any say in a tax deal granted by the Onondaga County IDA. The county agency can exempt businesses anywhere in the county from property taxes without the permission of town or city governments. However, it has always refrained from doing any tax deals inside the city, leaving those to the city IDA.

For the purposes of the existing tax deal, the Syracuse IDA holds nominal title to the mall and the land surrounding it north of Hiawatha Boulevard. McMahon said he did not know whether that would complicate a tax deal with the county IDA.

Until recently, the city IDA also held title to Destiny USA's auxiliary parking lots south of Hiawatha Boulevard. However, it transferred title to Congel, putting them on the tax rolls, in response to his announcement that he would build no more under the existing tax agreement.

A crew was drilling in one of the auxiliary parking lots on Friday. Aitken said crews are conducting borings to test subsurface conditions and determine the depth of the bedrock "as we consider potential future projects and what can be physically supported."

Contact Rick Moriarty at rmoriarty@syracuse.com or (315) 470-3148. Follow him on Twitter @RickMoriartyCNY and on Facebook at rick.moriarty.92.