The second phase of the Destiny USA project will see a 1,342-room hotel and conference center covered with green solar panel windows rise on the south shore of Onondaga Lake like giant blades of grass.
The $450 million hotel, which has not been named yet, will be the largest in the state outside of New York City and will be powered partly with electricity generated by its solar panel facade and by hydro-electric turbines utilizing rainwater collected on its roof.
Destiny developer Robert Congel is expected to make an official announcement of his plans for the hotel Thursday at the U.S. Green Building Council's Greenbuild International Conference and Expo here. An estimated 25,000 people are attending the conference, which kicked off today with a keynote address by former President Bill Clinton and will run through Friday.
Destiny officials said the hotel will be built to the Green Building Council's highest standards for eco-friendly construction and operation.
No date was set for the start of construction, but it will begin no later than Aug. 1, 2009, the date by which Congel must start the second phase of the Destiny project under the terms of a development agreement with the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency. Destiny executive David Aitken said construction will take 18 months.
The agreement requires Congel to build at least 1,000 rooms and complete them by Feb. 1, 2012.
Congel began construction of Destiny's first phase -- a 1.3-million-square-foot addition to the Carousel Center shopping mall -- in March. The developer has said he plans to build a massive retail, hotel and entertainment center that would expand across Hiawatha Boulevard and reach all the way to the Syracuse Inner Harbor, a former Barge Canal terminal between the Carousel Center and Franklin Square.
Green has been a major theme for Destiny. Congel has pledge to power the complex without using fossil fuels. He and Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll are scheduled to make a presentation to Greenbuild Thursday on the public-private partnership formed between the city and Destiny to make the project happen.
Syracuse and Onondaga County have waived most property taxes on the project in hopes of driving up sales tax revenues and creating jobs while seeing what was once a heavily polluted industrial site transformed into a major tourist attraction.
The hotel's green theme will be carried throughout its design, Destiny officials said. A rendering of the hotel shows a V-shape structure on the north side of the Carousel Center, with a green facade that makes it look like six giant blades of grass soaring into the sky next to Onondaga Lake.
Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll, who is attending the Greenbuild conference, called the hotel plans "a pretty fantastic design" that would help put the city at the forefront of sustainable buildinig design.
"I think it's outstanding," he said.
Onondaga County Executive Nicholas Pirro said Congel's hotel plans were further evidence that the developer plans to carry through with his pledge to build the larger Destiny project, which has been in the planning stages since 1997.
"I know the plans are to create a unique destination," he said.
Read more of Staff Writer Rick Moriarty's story about the hotel plan in Thursday's Post-Standard.
http://blog.syracuse.com/news/2007/1..._hotel_fo.html
Its Funny, alot of people didnt believe in this project but Phase 1 of Destiny is under-construction. I will be posting more details 2morrow.
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