The Syracuse Industrial Development Agency (SIDA) has given interested parties notice that intends to ask an appellate court to lift a stay holding up construction on the mall expansion.

The stay was put in place because 12 of the mall's current stores have leases that require management to run expansions by the stores. Rather than do that, the mall's owner, Pyramid, asked SIDA to take the leases by eminent domain. The agency – a board appointed by the mayor – agreed.

The stores – which include the likes of JC Penney, Lord & Taylor, Kaufmann's (which will by Macy's next month), Circuit City, CompUSA, Borders, Bon Ton, H&M and others, haven't come out against the expansion. They simply want to negotiate with their landlord.

David Aitken, an executive at Pyramid subsidiary Destiny, tells the P-S the company is negotiating with the stores. Federated, which owns L&T and Kaufmann's – and leases more space than anyone else in the mall – calls bullshit:

"We have had no further discussions with Pyramid which advance our concerns related to the loss of our rights at the Kaufmann's and Lord & Taylor stores or the expansion of Carousel Center," said Sharon Bateman, operating vice president for Federated.

But wait – there's more!

A little catch-up in case you missed it.

For this eminent domain taking to happen, an agreement was reached between Pyramid, the mayor and the county executive. It needed the approval of the city's common council, the county legislature and SIDA. When the council voted it down, a new agreement was reached that excluded them from the chain of inclusion.

But there were some, er, shenanigans with the "meeting" during which SIDA approved the second agreement. Various members approved it in separate locations so that they didn't come together as a quorum. And one of the SIDA members, Terry Bright, who was removed from the board later that same day, didn't get prior notice of the meeting (rather, the mayor came to her house that day, and left a notice on her dining room table while she wasn't looking). And the public wasn't notified of what probably had to be a public meeting.

The state Committee on Open Government has rendered an opinion on the meeting: It might have been illegal, and if it was, the action taken at the meeting would be void. So, that might explain why SIDA can't wait two weeks for the stores' hearings, scheduled for Sept. 14.

When a decision is reached in the stores' complaint, the stay will be lifted (unless Pyramid's required to negotiate in good faith with its tenants, but how dare we hope for good faith negotiations with this crowd?).

Another thing that might also have been illegal? The councilors who voted against the first agreement were in a room for a couple of minutes before the meeting at which they voted it down, and they closed the door. Because there were six of them (enough for a quorum), it might have been considered a separate meeting, and since it wasn't posted, it would have been an improper meeting.

There is, of course, no way to know what was discussed at that meeting, though since no official action was taken, nothing can be voided.

You can read COG's opinions on both cases here [if you're using a browser other than IE, search on the page for "Freeman looks at meetings"].

What if...?

What happens if SIDA takes the stores' leases by eminent domain, and the stores decide to pull out of the mall? If the landlord isn't held to the leases, the stores can't be either. And if some of the mall's biggest stores – including both anchors – pull out, (a) other tenants are likely to follow, and (b) what stores would even consider coming to the existing mall, never mind a giant expansion?