Hotel Syracuse Transferred to Developer

YES!  Whoo hoo!

AB Drummond photo, July 2013

Today, according to published reports, the City of Syracuse (through the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency) seized the abandoned Hotel Syracuse and transferred it to developer Ed Riley's Syracuse Community Restoration Company 1, LLC.

Why is that worthy of fireworks?

Well, SCRC1 is the company that's going to redevelop our grand old lady into a shining new old lady, in a $57 million project that was announced a while back.

I've preached about the need to get the Hotel out of foreign hands and back into the hands of  local folks who actually want to do something with it. In January, Syracuse's mayor Stephanie Miner made a point of calling out the Hotel Syracuse project as a priority in her State of the City speech.

In announcing the deal today, Miner noted that

Today is a major day for the Hotel Syracuse and the redevelopment of Downtown.  There is much work left to be done to make this long-held dream of may into a reality but this is a big step in a major transformation.

Today, I'm happy to give up my claim to one of the old gargoyles - I'd much rather have the Hotel, thanks very much. Let's hope that this truly is the start of something big!