Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner says the city isn't giving up on the latest proposal to renovate the Hotel Syracuse. A plan for the city to take over the tax delinquent property stalled last week when, Financitech, which holds the mortgage on the hotel, paid back taxes at the last minute.
Miner says if the current owner doesn't give up on the project, or work with the city, then there's a very real possibility of taking the property through eminent domain. She says at least the abandoned hotel is getting some attention.
"We have real developers involved, they have real plans, we are very excited about it, they have the resources to do that. So, we are partnering with Onondaga County to move that forward so we can see changes happening at hotel Syracuse. The worst frustration is when nothing happens. And for far too long, the entire central New York community has had to deal with nothing happening at the Hotel Syracuse," said Miner.
The Boston-based Pyramid Hotel Group was ready to buy the hotel from the city, and spend $60 million to rehabilitate it into a facility that could be used as a hotel for the downtown Syracuse convention center. Miner said this could be a "bedrock" project for downtown Syracuse.
This is the second time in 18 months that a last minute tax payment squashed plans for the city to take possession and sell the hotel to a developer.
