Cheesecake Factory Walden Galleria Buffalo.JPG

The exterior of the Cheesecake Factory at the Walden Galleria near Buffalo is seen in a 2012 file photo.

(Stephen D. Cannerelli | scannerelli@syracuse.com)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The long wait for a Cheesecake Factory in Syracuse is over at last.

The restaurant is set to open at Destiny USA on the first level of the mall's expansion. Syracuse is the last major Upstate New York city to get a location from the chain.

Cheesecake is listed as coming soon on the fall 2013 Destiny USA maps. They're out at all of the mall's guest services stations now so grab one and see for yourself.

No word yet from Destiny USA officials on an opening date or other details.

The map shows a location toward the middle of the expansion's first level, between the mall's Canyon section and the connector hallway to the older portion of the property.

The Cheesecake Factory location at the Walden Galleria near Buffalo has its own exterior entrance and outdoor seating. Again, no word from Destiny yet on whether that will be the case in Syracuse.

The restaurant and the ifs, whens and hows of its arrival in Central New York have been sparking rumor and speculation for the better part of a decade.

The most recent bit of news related to the chain's local plans came in July when a project involving a Cheesecake at Destiny appeared on the U.S. Green Building Council website.

But Cheesecake was on the radar screen for Destiny when the property was still known as the Carousel Center. At one time, the restaurant took a look at moving into the spot now occupied by Koto Japanese Steakhouse, previously a Hooters location.

The plan would have been to build a two-story restaurant in the Koto slot and the space below, where Ruby Tuesday is.

And Cheesecake was featured in a promotional computer-animated video uncovered on a website belonging to the mall's leasing team in 2010. The video included images showing numerous potential tenants, including Cheesecake.

Others in the video, like Saks Off 5th and P.F. Chang's, eventually made their way to Destiny in reality as well.

The connections stretch even farther back than that.

Ten years ago, reps from Cheesecake were among those at an event organized by Destiny's owner, Syracuse-based Pyramid Cos. The event, at Pyramid founder Robert Congel's Savannah Dhu conference center in Wayne County, brought top retailers and chains restaurants together with Pyramid management for two days of work sessions and wooing.

Cheesecake has locations in the Rochester and Albany markets, along with the restaurant at the Walden Galleria. The Galleria, in Cheektowaga, is another Pyramid mall.

Follow Store Front on Twitter and Facebook and sign up for the weekly Store Front newsletter. Contact Kevin Tampone at ktampone@syracuse.com or (315) 454-2112. Follow him on Twitter @ktampone.