The developer of the stalled Medley Centre project in Irondequoit has filed a lawsuit against COMIDA (the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency), the Town of Irondequoit and the East Irondequoit School District.
The lawsuit by Scott Congel and his company Bersin Associates contends that COMIDA does not have the right to terminate the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement.
The various taxing jurisdictions want to invalidate the agreement that gave Congel tax breaks in return for development the former mall, saying that he hadn't met certain performance benchmarks.
Congel's partner, Jim Giuliano, says the project would create thousands of jobs over the coming years, and they still plan to move it forward. He says while they would rather have avoided litigation, "that is apparently not possible."
East Irondequoit Deputy Superintendent John Abbott said they believe the PILOT agreement is enforceable.
Irondequoit Supervisor Adam Bello issued this statement:
"Five years ago, Mr. Congel signed an agreement with taxpayers - in exchange for significant tax breaks, he would invest in a multi-million dollar development at the former Irondequoit Mall. Clearly that investment has not been made, and terminating the PILOT agreement is an important step towards ensuring that taxpayers do not continue to subsidize a failed project."
