The owners of the Destiny USA mega-mall and entertainment center in Syracuse again have plans to build a hotel as part of its complex along Onondaga Lake.
The mall this week sent a letter to Mayor Stephanie Miner and Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney. A spokesman for the mayor confirmed they received the letter but had no further comment. The mayor has long opposed the mall's large and lengthy property tax break.
In a copy of the letter given to WRVO by Destiny USA spokesman David Aitken, he writes that Destiny USA "is prepared to take the next steps in the development" of an on-site hotel after several months of consideration. The 252 room hotel will cost $75 million to build, the mall estimates. It would open in late 2015.
The hotel would be constructed across Hiawatha Boulevard from the mall on existing parking lots. It would connect to the mall by an enclosed pedestrian bridge over the busy roadway.
"We are excited with the plans to develop the western shore of Onondaga Lake, along with the additional development underway in the Inner Harbor," Aitken writes. "All these initiatives will further enhance the position of Syracuse and Central New York as a destination."
Aitken writes that on-site hospitality has always been part of their master plan. A towering 1,300 room hotel was once included in artist renderings of the much larger Destiny USA the developer, Robert Congel's Pyramid Corp., once prophesized.
Aitken says they will seek economic development assistance from the county's industrial development agency. Messages left for city and county economic development officials have not yet been returned.
