{"id":753928,"date":"2026-07-10T04:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T04:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/753928\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T04:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T04:03:15","slug":"a-complex-debt-structure-and-some-rooting-for-failure-what-are-destiny-usas-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/753928\/","title":{"rendered":"‘A complex debt structure’ and some rooting for failure: what are Destiny USA’s options?"},"content":{"rendered":"

SYRACUSE, N.Y. \u2014 When Destiny USA first opened, it was described as \u201cbigger, better and newer.\u201d The Central New York crowd descended upon the Carousel Mall on its opening day. CNY Central was live inside Carousel Mall on its chaotic opening day:<\/p>\n

All roads lead to carousel,\u201d then-NBC3\/CNY Central Anchor John Nicholson said. \u201cLike a giant magnet, the mall is pulling people in.\"Then<\/p>\n

Then Carousel mall on its opening day: October 15, 1990. (Photo by CNY Central)<\/p>\n

\u201cFew people thought it was for real,\u201d said then-investigative reporter Jim Kenyon. \u201cBut developer Robert Congel made believers out of a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back, the mall was not just \u201ca mall.\u201d It completely changed how Syracuse\u2019s Inner Harbor area would develop. \u201cIt is a part of this larger story of the revitalization of the city that we\u2019re still working through now,\u201d OHA Historian Bob Searing said.<\/p>\n

\"Destiny<\/p>\n

Destiny USA now. (Photo by CNY Central)<\/p>\n

New York State\u2019s largest mall tells a different story in 2026, now in serious financial trouble.<\/p>\n

Facing more than $730 million in debt, the mall has three options:<\/p>\n

Settle out of court,Chapter 11 bankruptcy,Or keep it alive for now, with hopes that a company like Micron could breathe new life into the mall.<\/p>\n

That $730M in debt is made up of two parts:<\/p>\n

About $483M in mortgage loansAbout $250M in PILOT (payment in lieu of tax) bondsOption one: Settle out of court<\/p>\n

The mall\u2019s owner, Pyramid Management Group and a financial servicer are now attempting to sell part of the debt. Prior to the sale, Pyramid was offered a deal: pay $70M of the $483M in mortgage loans and the entirety of that $483M (then around $464M) would disappear.<\/p>\n

That plan would fail in December 2025. Pyramid claimed they could not refinance their bonds to come up with the money needed.<\/p>\n

This is a very complex debt structure.<\/p>\n

Syracuse Professor of Finance Erasmo Giambona says he has never seen a debt structure with so many parties involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know there was a failed attempt in December, so one could think you could revisit that attempt,\u201d Giambona explained. \u201cBring the numbers down, where the CNBS holders actually receive less than that 70.5 million dollars. And this could potentially be reorganized out of court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now for the question on many Central New Yorkers\u2019 minds: will the mall go dark? Probably not. That scenario would threaten Syracuse\u2019s economy given that annually, about $280M is spent at the mall.<\/p>\n

Option two: Chapter 11 bankruptcyOne could potentially foresee Chapter 11 bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

Giambona says the court process could mean around $30M in administrative and legal fees. It is important to know that Chapter 11 does not necessarily mean the property will be liquidated. Instead, the bankruptcy court acknowledges that the parties will not be able to settle out of court. That is a process that could hurt some creditors and may force the mall to change hands. \u201cIt could take years,\u201d Giambona explained.<\/p>\n

Decades of tax breaks and now questionable debt management leave some wondering if the mall is doomed to fail.<\/p>\n

Now, you know the thing that concerns me is that you have I feel like people rooting for the mall to fail. And I don\u2019t understand that impulse.<\/p>\n

Be it in court or out of court, the mall\u2019s debt needs to be resolved; but actually growing it into the regional economic engine many hoped it would be might take an outside force (and option three): Micron.<\/p>\n

Option three: Micron revitalizes the area<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a reasonable case to be made that Micron could save the mall. An economic engine bringing thousands of workers to a community ready to expand just might revive Destiny USA in ways we could never even imagine.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully we\u2019ll see some sort of sophisticated investor with an understanding of real estate,\u201d Giambona said. \u201cOne that could come in and leverage this sort of property in connection to what we are observing with Micron coming to town and an economic expansion of the area.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SYRACUSE, N.Y. \u2014 When Destiny USA first opened, it was described as \u201cbigger, better and newer.\u201d The Central…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-753928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}