The owner of Medley Centre is suing Nomura Credit and Capital, the Japanese bank that withdrew its financing for the redevelopment project. (Read the complaint below.) Bersin Properties planned to make over the moribund mall for housing, retail, a hotel, and entertainment. Online records from the county clerk’s office show that Bersin filed the lawsuit […]
Medley Centre
Posted inNews & Opinion
PAC fever
Just what role Monroe County would play in terms of a downtown performing arts center is unclear. Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren says she has spoken to Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks about helping fund a downtown arts center, and that Brooks is open to the possibility. But a Brooks spokesperson says that without an actual […]
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Medley-go-round
The clock is running down on Bersin Properties, owner of Medley Centre. Bersin’s plan for the Irondequoit site includes a hotel and a possible theater for Rochester Broadway Theatre League. But the project has faced setbacks and controversy from the outset. Bersin has until May 1 to make $3.9 million in outstanding payments to the […]
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Morelle wants investigation of Medley’s state tax credits
State Assembly member Joe Morelle is calling for Empire State Development to investigate whether the Medley Centre project still is, or should be, eligible for its Empire Zone benefits. Developer Scott Congel bought the Irondequoit mall and the company that owns it, Bersin Properties, several years ago. Over the years, his plans for the mall […]
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Officials give Congel an ultimatum on Medley Centre
East Irondequoit school district and Town of Irondequoit officials are starting to talk tough to Medley Centre developer Scott Congel. At issue is a past-due $3.5 million penalty payment that Congel — through his company, Bersin Properties — was supposed to make to the district, town, and Monroe County Industrial Development Agency. The payment was […]
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East Irondequoit wants Congel to pay $4 million
When Medley Centre’s developer missed an investment milestone earlier this year, it was clear that he’d have to pay a penalty. Last night, the East Irondequoit school board provided some insight into what that penalty could be. According to media reports, board members voted to asses the developer, a firm owned by Scott Congel, a […]
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Medley looms over Irondequoit races
To make sense of Irondequoit’s politics, it helps to think of the town as Monroe County’s swing state. Party affiliation doesn’t seem to mean much to Irondequoit voters. And they aren’t reluctant to bounce sitting officials out of office. As a result, town elections are often tough, hard-fought contests, and the 2013 races are no […]
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Officials will meet on Medley Centre issues
Next Friday, Medley Centre owner and developer Scott Congel will be in a room with representatives of the Monroe County Industrial Development Agency, the Town of Irondequoit, and the East Irondequoit School District. On the agenda: Congel’s failure to meet the most recent milestone in a tax incentive agreement. Congel requested the meeting, says Michael […]
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Irondequoit Dems lay out Medley plan
There’s no way around it, Medley Centre will be an issue in the Irondequoit town elections. And this morning, the Democratic candidates for supervisor and Town Board held a press conference to lay out their plan for dealing with the dead mall. During a separate interview, Adam Bello, who’s challenging incumbentRepublican Mary Joyce D’Aurizio for […]
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The Empire Zone strikes back
The Medley Centre project in Irondequoit isn’t held in high esteem by the public. Neither were the state’s Empire Zones — businesses in these designated areas were entitled to tax incentives. Even state officials agreed the zones were so flawed the whole system had to be junked. But combined, Medley and the zone program make […]
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Medley Centre’s long odds
The biggest and possibly only physical change happening at Irondequoit’s beleaguered Medley Centre mall seems to be the grass growing through the cracks in the parking lot. That shouldn’t be the case. By now, Medley developer Scott Congel is supposed to have invested $165 million toward his vision of turning the dead mall into a […]
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Comptroller: Medley created zero jobs in 2011
It’s time to beat on Medley Centre again. The state Comptroller’s Office just released a report on statewide industrial development activity in 2011. The report devotes a fair amount of space to exemptions for retail projects, which it says have increased each year since 2007. Prior to 2008, a provision of state law prohibited IDA’s […]
