Carousel Center Goes Green

SYRACUSE-In conjunction with the ongoing construction of the DestiNY USA project, company officials say that beginning this month the adjoining 1.5-million-sf Carousel Center mall here will meet its energy needs via clean renewable energy sources. DestiNY USA is a multibillion-dollar expansion retail/entertainment project to be built adjacent to locally based Pyramid Cos’ Carousel Center mall. Robert Congel, founder of DestiNY USA and founding and managing partner of Pyramid, says by converting the shopping center to “green power,” the move will prevent the emissions of approximately 958 tons of greenhouse gases.

In addition to the power conversion, DestiNY USA is powering the construction equipment on the first phase of the project, which will eventually add 1.3 million sf or 850,000 sf of gross leaseable space to the Carousel Center, via environmentally friendly means. The first phase is projected to cost $329 million to complete and is scheduled to be finished sometime during the fourth quarter of 2008.

“Green power fuels our construction equipment–there is no reason it shouldn’t be powering Carousel,” Congel says. “Until we complete construction of our on-site renewable generation, we will take advantage of renewable sources already in place. The impact this will have on the environment through the reduction of greenhouse gases is enormous.” The firm states that the benefits of the contract signed with Constellation Energy of Baltimore in connection with the clean renewable energy initiative will be equivalent to 2,311 cars not being driven for one year and 9,575 acres of forest preserved from deforestation.

A little over two years ago DestiNY USA and the US Environmental Protection Agency signed a memorandum of understanding that the company use environmentally sound practices in constructing and running its project. In February DestiNY USA was issued $229 million in Green Bonds by the EPA. DestiNY USA officials say the switching of the Carousel Center to using clean renewable energy puts the project closer to compliance with requirements that go along with the green bond financing. For example, DestiNY USA committed to reduce sulfur dioxides by 1,780 tons per year as a condition to the securities financing. The green power conversion at Carousel Center satisfies 10% of that requirement by reducing So2 output by an estimated 185 tons per year.

Congel, who is a member of the EPA’s Green Power Partnership and a member of the US Green Building Council, says, “This is only a first step. We are committed not only to reducing our own carbon footprint, but to showing others how they can each do the same thing. From long-term planning, like installing distributed power generation on site, to everyday initiatives such as the installation of energy saving lights in the centers, we are now examining everything we do.”