Move over, Mall of America!

Emerald 5 ShowTel, an über-green, five-star hotel being developed by DestiNY USA in Syracuse, N.Y., would give guests something to write home about. Running on renewable energy, the hotel would be energy- and water-efficient, located close to public transportation, utilize environmentally preferred cleaning products and serve organic local food. Guests could even purchase the same linens, soaps, furniture and electronics incorporated into the hotel, which is aiming for a Platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Emerald 5 ShowTel is just one element of DestiNY USA, a $20 billion destination resort located along Onondaga Lake, which was once considered one of the country’s most polluted waterways. Led by Robert J. Congel, CEO and owner of privately held Pyramid Cos., DestiNY USA is building the 75 million-square-foot resort next to Pyramid’s existing Carousel Center. When completed, it would overtake Minnesota’s Mall of America as the country’s largest shopping center.

DestiNY USA secured $540 million in financing in 2007, including $238 million tax-free Green Bonds from the U.S. Treasury Department, for phase one of the project, a 1.3 million-square-foot center for dining, retail and entertainment. Yet, citing the current state of the financial market, ground breaking on Emerald 5 ShowTel is currently unknown, according to company spokesperson David Aitken.

The retail center, to be completed in December 2008, is expected to generate an estimated $14 million per year in local sales tax and provide 1,000 jobs, Aitken says. 

DestiNY USA also has hopes of building what it is calling a research development park for renewable energy technologies. Aitken says it would be a public-private partnership aimed at developing new energy-efficient and renewable energy technologies.
“There is a great opportunity in upstate New York to align educational institutions, commercial ventures like DestiNY USA and other private investors to commercialize new technologies,” Aitken says.

Congel has built 20 shopping malls across the Northeast, but DestiNY USA and a concurrent retrofit of the Carousal Center are his first experiments with LEED certification.