Hotel Syracuse: 5 facts from eminent domain court paperwork (read petition)
“As expected, a Syracuse agency moved this month to take the shuttered Hotel Syracuse by eminent domain.
It’s the next step in the latest proposed redevelopment of downtown’s once-grand hotel. A hotel developer wants to perform a $57 million renovation and reopen the downtown hotel with a national hotel brand affiliation.
But there’s still a long road ahead for the South Warren Street landmark. The attention now turns to state Supreme Court, where Justice Hugh Gilbert will preside over the eminent domain request. The first court date is July 15.
The mortgage company with the most to lose if the hotel is seized wants to foreclose on its previous owner and sell the hotel to the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency.
But the developer, Ed Riley, wants the court to approve the eminent domain, because it would be a quick way to get an uncontested title to the hotel.
Under his plan, the city agency would own the property and lease it back to Riley’s company. It’s not clear if Riley yet has the financing in place for the renovation.”
Dowty, Douglass. Syracuse.com 30 June 2014.