2026-11-10 - Syracuse Industrial Development Agency

I

>> Okay.

Good morning and welcome to the Board of

Directors meeting of the Syracuse

Industrial Development Agency.

I'll start call calling the meeting to

order by calling the roll call of the

board members. I'm Kathy Murphy.

>> Ricky Brown.

>> Thank you very much. Um proof of notice

was served for this meeting and I will

start by addressing the public hearing

that we were having today

on [project name redacted].

Um

I'll ask Eric to update us, but we will

be postponing that hearing today.

Dirk.

>> Good morning, everyone. Yeah, so just

for additional context for the board, we

with the materials that were published

as part of our public notice and the

information for this meeting, we

realized that inadvertently we had

outdated information regarding the

project that was included as part of

those materials. We've since gone back.

We've updated that information with the

current accurate and most up-to-date

version of that cost-benefit analysis.

That is included both in the board

materials and what is been published and

included on the website.

But that being said, given the limited

notice and time for any additional

review at the public level, we

ultimately are going to postpone the

public hearing as Kathy just noted and

then would look to hold this at our

upcoming meeting in December instead.

>> Thank you, Eric.

Additionally, the next item, which is

the finance committee report from our

September finance committee meeting,

which of which there was a

recommendation from the finance

committee to this board for the [redacted]

project,

we will hold that recommendation to

review that

all of the data we had at that time was

correct. If so, we'll make the

recommendation when the public hearing

is scheduled. If not, we will host

another finance committee meeting to

review the data prior to the schedule of

the public hearing.

Any questions or comments on any of

that?

All good?

Great.

Uh next item on the agenda is East

Onondaga Street.

Oh, sorry. Hold on.

>> need you skipped over the minutes.

>> Oh.

Maybe I didn't like the minutes. Period.

Sorry.

I apologize. Is the minutes were of our

Let's see. Oh, yes. Our special board

meeting held on September 29th were

included in the packet. Is there a

motion?

>> So moved.

>> Motion made by Dirk. Is there a second

by Ricky? Any comments, questions,

discussion on the minutes?

Hearing none,

all in favor, please say aye.

>> Aye.

>> Aye.

>> Opposed, abstention. Motion carried.

Thank you.

Thanks, Sue. Sorry.

>> No, you're good.

>> Next item on the agenda is East

Onondaga Street.

Approval of a resolution authorizing a

public hearing on a new project. Eric.

>> Okay. So this is a new project request

that the agency has before it. This is

regarding the property located at East Onondaga Street, more regularly or

commonly known as [building name redacted].

It was a six-story building in downtown

Syracuse that since its construction in

1968 has really been a office building.

The project is that's being proposed

would be a conversion of most of that

square footage into residential space

with 46 new apartments, a combination of

one bedroom as well as studios. There is

also a portion of commercial space on

the ground floor being proposed as well.

The project has undergone initial review

and approval by the zoning office, the

city zoning office, as well as the

planning commission, as well as a

variance that's been approved by the

Board of Zoning Appeals for ground floor

residential.

And the other point I would just note is

that this applicant is

has undertaken previous projects in

Syracuse, including a prior project on Harrison Street, the building where [tenant redacted] is located and recently

successfully completed that project

earlier this year. We do have a

representative on behalf of the project

here as well, [representative redacted] from the

construction manager, but the intention today

would be to authorize

the public hearing, and ultimately what

we would do is really continue to work

through the review process on this

project for a public hearing that would

be held at a later date.

>> Thank you, Eric. [name redacted], do you want

to come up and just give us a quick

overview, please?

>> Everything I was going to say Eric

already said.

>> Okay, that's that's okay.

>> But

I'm here as the construction manager. We were the

construction manager for Harrison

Street. We'll be the construction

manager for with

hoping and assuming that the project

receives the benefits that it needs for

the project to pencil. I think that

narrative that the applicants wrote

explains the story. It's the typical

story we're hearing all the time. We

have a vacant office building. We have a

need for housing. We can't get the pro

forma to pencil without the side of

benefits. Um I think the the story is

nicely laid out by the clients. Um

we're really excited to get going.

Planning and zoning have been great. We

have a submission in for a building

permit and uh the Harrison Street

project has been great. The clients are

from out of town, which is why they

asked me to be here. I've been with them

since the beginning of [prior project]

uh preconstruction and construction and

now preconstruction for this one and

hoping to get construction going as soon

as possible in the new year.

>> Is the building completely vacant now?

>> Almost completely vacant. Yes.

There's some It's been an office

building and there are some office

tenants um

scattered throughout. Yeah. In the the

the as proposed, the completed project

we will We got a zoning variance to put

residential on the first floor in the

rear. If you can picture the building,

it's the one with the basketball mural

on it, right? It's a deep building and

so um given the struggle in the city to

lease first floor commercial space um

the compromise with the ZBA is that the

very front portion of the first floor

that has street frontage and a window

about 900 to 1,000 square feet will be

retained for commercial there and then

the rear portion would have the

apartments. Yeah, in the back.

Okay. Any other questions for [name redacted]

before she

steps down?

>> Let's have a public hearing.

>> Let's have a public hearing. I'll take

that as a motion by Dirk for

to schedule a public hearing. Is there a

second by Ricky? Any further comments,

questions, or concerns?

Hearing none, all in favor please say

aye.

>> Aye.

>> Aye.

>> Opposed, abstention. Motion carries.

Thank you, [name redacted]. Thank you, [name redacted].

Yep.

>> If you hadn't come, [name redacted], there would

have been a million questions for you,

just so you know.

>> It's true.

Uh, we'll see you at the public hearing,

hopefully.

Thank you.

Next item on the agenda, [item name redacted].

[item name redacted]

>> Oh, okay.

I I shouldn't be here today, apparently.

I apologize.

I'm happy to do them out of order if

you'd like.

>> No, no need to. Okay. Um, the next

resolution in the agenda is a request by

um [applicant redacted], which is the

project previously undertaken

um by the board and we closed with the

project in November of '24. This is the

renovation of the 12-story historic

building at South Salina

Street. Um, they're creating

wonderful new apartments there. They are

not seeking any additional financial

assistance. They simply are seeking an

additional 6 months to complete the

final build out. A majority of the

building is already leased up, which is

fantastic. Um, their current appointment

as your agent for the purposes of using

their sales tax exemption expired

November 1st. This was the first meeting

we could get them on. They're seeking to

have it extended to May 1st

of next year. They don't anticipate

needing the full 6 months, but they just

wanted to make sure that they had

adequate time to get all the invoices

paid.

Um, so

that's the request.

>> I move it.

Great project.

>> Thank you. Motion made by Dirk.

>> Second.

>> Second by Recky. Any questions or

comments,

concerns?

Hearing none, all in favor, please say

aye.

>> Aye.

>> Opposed, abstention. Motion carries.

Thank you.

Uh, next item on the agenda, sorry, is

[item name redacted].

>> Good morning, everyone. In your agenda

today was a resolution uh seeking the

agency's participation in the

refinancing of commercial debt that

currently

um is on the property known as

[mall name redacted].

For those who may not recall, it's

really two separate parcels. The

original mall is called [name redacted]. The expansion of 800,000 square feet is called [name redacted]. They operate as one mall. They

are in

legal terms two separate owners, two

separate tax parcel ID numbers, but it

is operated as one mall.

Um as I'm sure all of you know um in

2007

this body issued tax-exempt pilot bonds

to finance a portion of the expansion of

the mall. Those bonds were refinanced in

2016. They remain outstanding or at

least a portion of them remain

outstanding. Those bonds have mortgages

attached to them to secure them, and

they are in first place on the original mall. No one can get paid before the

pilot trustee gets paid on those bonds.

In addition to the outstanding bond

debt, there is commercial debt.

Um when the project originally closed

back in 2007 commercial loans were

taken. Those loans remain outstanding

and much as much like we did in 2014

the owner is looking to refinance that

debt.

Um so

because of CIDA's interest in both the

original parcel and the expansion

we are obligated to participate in any

refinancing that takes place, provided

that the documents meet our

requirements.

Um so we have been talking in great

lengths with all the parties involved.

Certainly the [owner redacted]

folks, but we also have been talking to

the pilot trustee, the bond trustee, the

bond insurer.

Um

there is a bondholder representative

that was appointed back in 2016. We have

also been talking with the new potential

lender. So we have had multiple

conversations

and the parties have agreed to basically

the terms of the documents

which include and I if you just bear

with me a minute I'm going to read the

documents so I don't forget any.

There are mortgages.

There are intercreditor agreements both

on the existing original mall and the expansion

because you have a pilot trustee who

gets paid first and then you have a

secured lender who gets paid second and

all the parties in between. These

agreements make it clear

what the rights and priorities are

amongst the payments and your bonds are

always in first place. And so these

agreements make it clear to the other

parties

hey new lender you're going to get paid

but you're not going to get paid until

we get paid.

So you have one for each section of them

all.

We have obviously mortgages, pledges and

assignments, estoppel certificates.

To the extent there are pilot mortgages

that between the last time we did this

and now have been paid which there are

that's how it works every year when the

pilot payment is made that particular

mortgage gets satisfied

we will execute satisfactions of

mortgages for those that have already

been paid.

And all of the documents that we're

talking about as indicated

in your resolution and to which there

was a link have been posted on a site a

public site called Emma which is what

tax-exempt bond financing world uses to

put the world on notice of these types

of things. Anything that happens for any

project where there's a tax-exempt bond

notices go there, documents go there, if

there's been a default it goes there. I

mean it is intended to be transparent to

the public.

So the documents that we're talking

about have been posted.

Um

So first I should stop and ask if

anybody has any questions about that so

far.

Okay.

So um as outlined in in greater detail

in the resolution, the outstanding

commercial debt is about $430 million.

Um that debt is being refinanced

um for between $60 and $70 million.

If the transaction

If the transaction closes

If the transaction closes, the delta

between the $60 million and the 430 will

be satisfied.

So that debt will be written off. Um

as a result of that, it is a good

deal for the bondholders because it

makes the flow of funds more likely to

be able to cover all of the debt for the

entire period, maintaining them all so

that it continues to generate revenue,

which is what generates the payment to

the bonds.

So

all in all, it's a great deal for the

bondholders.

Um

one other piece of this, the trustee,

who is whose sole job it is to protect

the bondholders,

um is going out and seeking bondholder

consent to execute the documents. And

the primary reason that he is doing that

is because he he wants to be sure it's a

new trustee. It used to be [prior trustee redacted], now it's [new trustee redacted]. The new trustee was not in the deal in 2014. So they

are for the first time doing their own

due diligence, and they want absolute

certainty that the bondholders agree to

this. Um no one has any reason to

believe the bondholders are not going to

agree to this. Again, it is

If it works, it is a fantastic financial

position for the bondholders.

Um that process has been commenced.

Um we are hoping that that will be

concluded in the next two weeks. We

don't have a date certain, but it is in

um process.

So,

with all of that said, um there are, as

outlined in the resolution, certain

conditions to the execution by this body

of those documents. They are, and I'm

just going to read them for the record,

um we have to receive all of

the documents they're asking us to sign

signed by the other parties. We have to

get all of the loan documents. We have

to get um receipt and confirmation of

bondholder consent because we can't do

the transaction if the bondholders don't

consent.

We need an issuance of a bond counsel

opinion, which the owner is working on with a respected bond counsel firm.

Um we need under the bond documents

confirmation from two rating agencies

that the transaction will not impact

negatively the bond rating. Um there has

been some indication that the bond

rating actually will go up if the

transaction closes, but nonetheless

getting those two approvals is required.

Um

obviously the owner has to remit

all legal fees and pay your

administrative fee in order for us to

proceed.

Um

and one last thing that's not outlined

here, but we talked about last night

with the owner is they have agreed at my

request to

enter into a separate document to

reaffirm all of their obligations to

this body to indemnify and defend you,

which is

clear in almost every document, but

because the documents are so old, I just

want to have a fresh

uh look at that. So they have agreed to

execute that and to um confirm in that

document the

rights of the parties vis-a-vis the

legal action that is still pending.

So,

I think that does it for what the

resolution is asking for. Um any

questions?

>> Second if I can. Any other questions,

comments, concerns? I just want to

clarify

to make sure

we're clear.

This resolution is going to authorize

chair and or the executive director

execute

the outlined documents

should the closing require execution

prior to our next meeting.

>> Yes, if you if the board adopts this

resolution, there will not need to be

another action taken by this board

unless something blows up or changes

that we that would cause this resolution

to no longer

>> be not be in effect.

>> Accurate. Okay. Okay.

>> Correct.

That's for sure.

100%

>> I just moved into Kathy's house. That's

how much I've been talking to her

lately.

>> Is any other questions or comments or

concerns?

We moved it. Ricky has a second. We're

in discussion.

If not, all in favor please say aye.

>> Aye.

>> Opposed, abstention. Motion carries.

Thank you very much Sue for that very

detailed explanation.

Is there any other business to come

before the body?

Derek?

Sue?

Hearing none, is there a motion to

adjourn?

Second by Ken, moved by Dirk. All in

favor please say aye.

>> Aye.

>> Opposed, abstention. Thank you all very

much. Have a wonderful holiday

and we'll see you soon.

>> Thanksgiving.

>> Thanksgiving.

>> We thought she was getting out of the

cookies, didn't we?

>> too. Yeah, listen. I'm like wait a

minute. We're skipping this?

>> Thanks.