A conclusion to the controversial plan to expand Carousel Mall into Destiny USA may finally be in sight.

After a series of seemingly futile renegotiations between the city of Syracuse and the Pyramid Development Companies left the deal all but scrapped, a last minute agreement and a subsequent unanimous vote by the Common Council has revitalized the plan. Original plans for the expansion touted a 4.7 million-square-foot building that would house more stores, hotels and a tourism center among other things.

The project garnered more attention in November when Gov. George E. Pataki announced that the new complex would be renamed Destiny USA and would include a new tourism center that would be funded by the state. The 50,000 square-foot center, designed to bolster upstate tourism, was allotted $25 million by Pataki.

The development hinged on several tax exemptions from both the city and Onondaga County to Pyramid while not requiring the development company to meet any minimum square foot or revenue requirements, which was a sticking point for the city and caused the renegotiations.

“They could have built a dog house in the parking lot,” said Steven DeRegis, a Republican common councilor. “And they still would have qualified for every tax exemption that we were offering.

“We had to financially protect our city.”

DeRegis, along with the rest of the Common Council, voted to unanimously approve a renegotiated deal. While not an ideal situation, it is better than the former plan, he said. The new plan requires only a 100 square-foot guarantee and no revenue guarantee.

Only approval from the county stands in the way of finalizing the plan, said Councilwoman Joanne Mahoney. Approval is on hold until Pyramid agrees that they will definitely go ahead with the project. This is something that Mahoney, also a Republican, said should come within the next few days.

Mahoney has been critical of both politicians and Pyramid representatives during the mall talks, but especially Mayor Matt Driscoll. She said that Driscoll created the most recent problems by committing to the original plan before there was a sure answer from Pyramid. Even if things appear as if they are going to end up all right, the problem could have been avoided by forcing Pyramid to commit earlier, Mahoney said.

“The city is doing some political posturing now,” Mahoney said. “But I would have gotten a guarantee originally.”

Roger Smith, a spokesman for Driscoll, could not be reached for comment.

The mayor is not without his defenders. James Mahoney, a former Democratic councilman who was involved in the early stages of planning, said Driscoll had little choice in dealing with Pyramid but handled the situation the best he could.

“It was prudent on their part to say ‘these are things we want and if they can’t be met then let’s negotiate,’ ” Mahoney said.

He added that for all the renegotiations, an amicable solution was still reached.

“It came out a win-win situation for everyone involved,” Mahoney said.

Published on January 24, 2002 at 12:00 pm