After firing the developer for its new bookstore and fitness center, Syracuse University has no immediate plans to restart construction.

Kevin Quinn, SU’s senior vice president for public affairs, said the university is not seeking any other developers and is resetting the process for the project.

“There is an urgent need to improve our bookstore and fitness facilities,” Quinn said. “Our top priority right now is talking with students about these needs and what they would like to see.”

In the meantime, he said the current bookstore in the Schine Student Center will operate as it is.

The university announced Friday that it had fired Cameron Group LLC, the developer for the project, after the company failed to meet the requirements of the development agreement. The bookstore was to be built at 601 University Ave., next to the University Avenue Garage, which is on university-owned land.

In July 2012, the Syracuse Common Council approved a tax-exemption deal that would have allowed the developer to pay the city $64,400 per year over 30 years, instead of $379,000 per year if the building was fully taxed. The university is usually exempt from paying property taxes, but Cameron Group is a private company and was developing the building instead of SU.

Ben Walsh, executive director of the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency, said the city was informed of SU’s decision the same day as the developer. He said the city did not intend to take any action relative to the bookstore project prior to the developer being fired.

Walsh added that the city had been in touch with Cameron Group during the past several months to discuss the project.

“We had a number of conversations with the developer regarding various issues associated with getting the project off the ground, but none that gave us any indication that the project was going to be terminated,” he said.

The developer did not explain during their conversations why there had been so many problems with the project, Walsh said.

Kathleen Joy, Syracuse common councilor at-large and chairperson of the Finance, Taxation and Assessment Committee, said she was also told Friday by SU that the university was not going to move forward with the project. She said the 30-year tax deal would not carry over if the university found a new developer.

“It’s unique to that developer and that project,” Joy said.

Though it does not happen often, Joy said real estate deals such as the bookstore project can run into problems. She compared it to the Marriott hotel in downtown Syracuse, which had a payment in lieu of a taxes deal, and it also took several years to finally be built.

“These types of real estate deals are complicated,” Joy said. “There are a lot of moving parts. This doesn’t happen all that often, but it’s not a freak thing.”

Published on June 25, 2014 at 10:03 am

Contact Brett: blsamuel@syr.edu | @Brett_Samuels27