DestiNY USA

DestiNY USA is the Pyramid Companies of Syracuse, New York's project to turn Syracuse into a leading entertainment and technology city. Current plans call for construction on the two-site complex to begin in 2005, with completion in 2008. The project includes an expansion of the Carousel Center into the country's largest entertainment complex, and a 1 million square foot (93,000 m²) technology complex several miles to the north, in the town of Salina.

Contents

1 Entertainment Complex 1.1 First stage 2 Research and Development Park 3 Transportation 4 External links

Entertainment Complex

Plans, which currently include over 4.5 million square feet (400,000 m²), consist of 13,000 hotel rooms, an indoor aquarium, an indoor recreation of the Erie Canal, a stadium and performing arts center, three golf courses, a 100 acre (400,000 m²) glass-enclosed indoor park, and a 20 acre (80,000 m²) artificial lake. This complex is to be known as DestiNY USA, and plans for it were first made public in April 2000. There have been constant struggles with the city, county, state, and federal government for tax relief and financing to make this project a reality. Construction of a 47 floor, 1,300 room hotel was started in October of 2002, only to be stopped shortly afterwards over a dispute whether this hotel would be considered "leasable space," which is a term used in the payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement between the county and the developer. Pyramid Cos. executives Michael Lorenz and Bruce Kenan have recently announced that construction could now begin by spring 2005, pending approval of the latest plans, which were announced in October 2004. The total estimated cost is between nine and ten billion dollars.

The Pyramid Cos. claim this resort would create approximately 120,000 new jobs, and bring millions of tourists to the Syracuse area. These benefits would be a significant economic boost to the area, which has been hard-hit by corporations down-sizing or moving away from Central New York.

First stage

As of March, 2005, here is what is planned for the first stage, to be completed by 2007:

• 13,000 hotel rooms in 10 towers
• Automated parking structure for 50,000 cars including Personal Rapid Transit
• 6 million additional square feet of space, with 300 to 400 new venues and a 30 acre (121,000 m²) indoor park.
• Remodeling of the existing Carousel Center
• 30,000 employees
• Cost: $6-7 billion

Research and Development Park

On March 3, 2005, The Pyramid Companies announced detailed plans for a million-square-foot technology park at the intersection of Interstate 81 and Interstate 90 in the suburb Salina, approximately four miles (6 km) north of the Carousel Center. The following companies have committed to the project:

• Interregnum: Headquartered in London, this technology firm has stated it will open an office in Syracuse, but has not released hiring estimates.
• ThoughtWorks: Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, this technology firm has estimated its hiring needs at 300 people.
• WISeKey: Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, this technology firm has stated that it will locate both its North American headquarters and its technological innovation headquarters in Syracuse, and estimates a need for 500 positions.

Until completion of the DestiNY facility, these companies will operate out of offices in the AXA Complex in Downtown Syracuse.

Transportation

Plans for the DestiNY USA complexes include a monorail, which is estimated to cost around 750 million dollars. It would connect Syracuse Hancock International Airport, approximately a mile north of the technology complex, to Syracuse University, via the technology complex, the William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center, the entertainment complex, and downtown. This monorail is often mentioned in plans, but no concrete plans have been released yet.

Another transportation device mentioned is Personal Rapid Transit, which presumably will be used to transport visitors across parking lots.

External links

• Carousel Center (http://carouselcenter.com)
• DestiNY USA (http://destinyusa.com)
• DestiNY USA News (http://syracuse.com/destinyusa)