Tagged: destiny usa

Updated, 8:06 p.m. with statement from Destiny USA.

For the first time in Bill Ryan's 10 years of public service, Syracuse and the owner of the Destiny USA mega-sized shopping mall are not facing legal action.

Ryan is a former common councilor and now chief of staff for the mayor and chairman of Syracuse Industrial Development Agency (SIDA), the city's development arm.

SIDA and the developer behind Destiny USA, Robert Congel's Pyramid Companies, reached a settlement Monday to avoid up to three lawsuits.

Some of the money collected through the tax break agreement between the Destiny USA mega-mall and Syracuse will be used to try and win federal funding for Inner Harbor improvements.

The Syracuse Industrial Development Agency (SIDA) has approved the use of $500,000 from Destiny payments to be part of a match for a federal grant the city is applying for.

The grant from the Economic Development Administration is worth $2 million, if the city can match it. Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat, was in Syracuse last month to stump for the grant. The city will have to come up with the other $1.5 million elsewhere.