2006/10/10
Catching up: Mall, AXA, more
Sorry for the extended absence. It's been a busy week.
It didn't take long for 10 tenants at the Carousel Center to do something the city just didn't have the guts to do: appeal an unjust ruling [more].
The stores want to be able to negotiate with their landlord for the things they paid good money for in their leases – access to mall entrances and parking. In the public version of the plans, the mall's biggest tenant, Federated Dept. Stores, would lose the direct entrance it has at Lord & Taylor, and all associated parking; its other store, Macy's, would lose about half its nearby parking.
The stores have in their lease agreements the ability to re-negotiate for these things when the mall plans an expansion, and Federated alone puts the value of that clause above all else in its leases. Federated told a court that if the city can take that clause by eminent domain (along with other clauses that allow it to negotiate with the mall owners when major changes could affect the stores), it should just take the whole lease and require the mall to pay a $24 million buyout.
I'm going to reiterate something I asked head of economic development David Michel in a letter: If the city is willing to take lease rights away from businesses without allowing them to negotiate for those rights, who would want to sign a commercial lease here? His response: Don't worry, we're not going to take your house.
Which would have no value in a city with no businesses in it anyway, I'm sure.
Not coincidentally, Federated's CEO praised the Lord & Taylor store at the Carousel Center last week. I'm sure Federated doesn't do this often, but when it's faced with losing a lease it values at $24 million, a little PR campaign is in order.
In related news, John Centra, the judge who ruled against the city in March in Syracuse's battle with the mall owners, is now an appeals court judge.
AXA
Meanwhile, we wrote last week about the city's negotiations to keep AXA financial in town [story]. AXA has promised 300 new jobs, and has asked for a PILOT program similar to the one it's had for the last few decades, some beautification to public space on its grounds, and that the city find it 600 parking spaces it will pay for at market value.
Interesting development last week: The city's not sure it can find the parking. With the promise – in writing – of more jobs and the guaranteed funds from parking, you'd think the city would push a little harder to make this happen. Instead, they're pushing hard for a mall expansion for a company that is alienating existing stores, claiming that it's negotiating with tenants for the expansion (it won't say which ones, and won't say how the possibility of existing stores leaving would affect those negotiations), and talks about job growth but won't put anything in writing.
Updated, 2:45 p.m. Tuesday: Oh, look at that. The city decided to find the parking spaces. Huh. Good idea.
In other news
• Syracuse University is shuttling its students downtown for free. While this gets the students to the architecture school, it also gets them to downtown businesses. It's a great boost to the downtown economy that should have happened years ago.
• It looks like that convention center hotel they've been talking about building at the OnCenter since 1992 is finally ready to happen, with about a half dozen grants coming in to get the project rolling.
• The city is talking to Kingston, Ontario, about forming a tourism alliance [NYCO].
• Lastly, NYCO's got a great post up about community commitment, including how it relates to that mall expansion I keep complaining about.
It didn't take long for 10 tenants at the Carousel Center to do something the city just didn't have the guts to do: appeal an unjust ruling [more].
The stores want to be able to negotiate with their landlord for the things they paid good money for in their leases – access to mall entrances and parking. In the public version of the plans, the mall's biggest tenant, Federated Dept. Stores, would lose the direct entrance it has at Lord & Taylor, and all associated parking; its other store, Macy's, would lose about half its nearby parking.
The stores have in their lease agreements the ability to re-negotiate for these things when the mall plans an expansion, and Federated alone puts the value of that clause above all else in its leases. Federated told a court that if the city can take that clause by eminent domain (along with other clauses that allow it to negotiate with the mall owners when major changes could affect the stores), it should just take the whole lease and require the mall to pay a $24 million buyout.
I'm going to reiterate something I asked head of economic development David Michel in a letter: If the city is willing to take lease rights away from businesses without allowing them to negotiate for those rights, who would want to sign a commercial lease here? His response: Don't worry, we're not going to take your house.
Which would have no value in a city with no businesses in it anyway, I'm sure.
Not coincidentally, Federated's CEO praised the Lord & Taylor store at the Carousel Center last week. I'm sure Federated doesn't do this often, but when it's faced with losing a lease it values at $24 million, a little PR campaign is in order.
In related news, John Centra, the judge who ruled against the city in March in Syracuse's battle with the mall owners, is now an appeals court judge.
AXA
Meanwhile, we wrote last week about the city's negotiations to keep AXA financial in town [story]. AXA has promised 300 new jobs, and has asked for a PILOT program similar to the one it's had for the last few decades, some beautification to public space on its grounds, and that the city find it 600 parking spaces it will pay for at market value.
Interesting development last week: The city's not sure it can find the parking. With the promise – in writing – of more jobs and the guaranteed funds from parking, you'd think the city would push a little harder to make this happen. Instead, they're pushing hard for a mall expansion for a company that is alienating existing stores, claiming that it's negotiating with tenants for the expansion (it won't say which ones, and won't say how the possibility of existing stores leaving would affect those negotiations), and talks about job growth but won't put anything in writing.
Updated, 2:45 p.m. Tuesday: Oh, look at that. The city decided to find the parking spaces. Huh. Good idea.
In other news
• Syracuse University is shuttling its students downtown for free. While this gets the students to the architecture school, it also gets them to downtown businesses. It's a great boost to the downtown economy that should have happened years ago.
• It looks like that convention center hotel they've been talking about building at the OnCenter since 1992 is finally ready to happen, with about a half dozen grants coming in to get the project rolling.
• The city is talking to Kingston, Ontario, about forming a tourism alliance [NYCO].
• Lastly, NYCO's got a great post up about community commitment, including how it relates to that mall expansion I keep complaining about.
