Mission Gateway developer gets fired from much smaller project in Syracuse for taking too long, not having financing

If Tom Valenti can’t build a $20 million bookstore on the campus of Syracuse University, is there any hope for Mission?

Syracuse University decided last Friday that it had had enough of Valenti’s excuses and persistent delays and fired the developer from the bookstore and fitness center that was planned there. 

Valenti, as regular Pitch readers know, is the man with New York development firm the Cameron Group who bought and tore down Mission Mall in 2005 with the grand idea of turning what was just another indoor mall into a mixed-use-apalooza called the Mission Gateway.

Since that time, Valenti has done hardly anything with the land except fire off a litany of so-far unrealized promises (aquariums, offices, apartments and so on) of what he would accomplish there. All he has actually done is hold a press conference for a groundbreaking in 2013 that hardly broke any ground. Construction remains at a standstill today.

Mission city leaders have shown Job-like patience with not only Valenti’s ever-changing development plans but also his continued inability to make those plans happen at the barren corner where Shawnee Mission Parkway passes over Roe Avenue.

Syracuse officials showed Valenti far less understanding. The Post-Standard in Syracuse, New York, writes that despite having been awarded a 30-year tax exemption to build the project, the university is moving on after continued delays and excuses from Valenti. It turns out that Valenti couldn’t line up financing for the Syracuse project.

“The developer has been unable to adequately address the University’s concerns or demonstrate a credible ability to successfully complete the project as it had contractually agreed to do so,” Syracuse said in a statement.

Valenti’s firing was preceded by months of excuses as to why he couldn’t get the project going, paired with promises that construction was just around the corner.

Does that sound familiar?

Valenti came back before the Mission City Council earlier this month to explain once more his inaction. According to the Prairie Village Post, Valenti said he just needs one big tenant to sign an agreement at Mission Gateway. That’s funny because in 2011, Valenti said it was Walmart, not some additional unnamed tenant, that would be the “rocket fuel” to kick-start Mission Gateway.

So far, Valenti’s fuse has been a dud.