Development agency still eying eminent domain to acquire Hotel Syracuse

“The agency’s five directors spent about 20 minutes talking to its attorneys behind closed doors Tuesday. Ben Walsh, the agency’s executive director, said afterward that no decision was made and no votes taken on whether to launch an eminent domain proceeding against the historic hotel.

Syracuse and Onondaga County officials have been frustrated with the status of the downtown hotel, which has been closed since 2004. They say business at the county’s convention center just two blocks away has been hurt by the hotel’s continued closure.

In May, the city made plans to seize the hotel from its absentee Israeli owner, GML Syracuse LLC, for back taxes and sell it to the Pyramid Hotel Group, of Boston, to be redeveloped.”

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Moriarty, Rick. Syracuse.com 18 June 2013.