GUILDERLAND — Whether it’s a member of one of Guilderland’s municipal boards being stopped in the grocery store or residents posing the question online, it’s been a topic of discussion for what’s now become years: When is the Guilderland Costco opening?

The project is being developed by Pyramid Management Group, owners of the project-adjacent Crossgates Mall. The company plans to build the 160,000-square-foot store, 18-pump gas station, and 770-spot parking lot at the corner of Western Avenue and Crossgates Mall Road.

Supervisor Peter Barber during his state of the town address earlier this month said the warehouse price club would be opening in late 2025, “last I heard.” He said, “It takes four months to build because it’s just a box — no basement, nothing really specialized about it.” The timing, he said, is dependent on the company having a “building slot.”

But during the most-recent meeting of the town’s Industrial Development Agency a little more light was shed on the subject. 

“I’ll give the usual comment in regard to the Costco closing. I was in discussion with Pyramid’s representatives about two weeks ago and they told me at that point in time, their best guess for closing was 30 to 45 days, which would put us toward the end of February or early March,” Donald Csaposs, chief executive officer of the IDA, said on Jan. 28. 

But “closing” isn’t closing in the traditional real-estate sense, Csaposs explained to The Enterprise this week, as Pyramid has already been deeded the land it needs to build the project. 

“There were two things that were taken by eminent domain,” Csaposs told The Enterprise; one was land, the discontinued roads located within the project site. “The other thing that was taken by eminent domain was the right to eliminate the purported deed restrictions that prohibited non-residential development on certain parcels in the project area,” Csaposs said. 

Csaposs said the second eminent domain action applied to properties “within the proposed building envelope, so to speak, for Costco, and for three other projects outside the building envelope, but immediately adjacent” to the project. 

Of the land taken by eminent domain, Csaposs said, “We took the land, we transferred it to [Pyramid], we got money from them, and we gave it to the town.”

The IDA in June accepted a $686,000 appraisal for the 4.23 acres of town-owned property, the roads, within the project site.

But, Csaposs said, “I don’t know if the new deed has been filed at the county clerk yet.”

A map and deed appear to have been filed.

What’s meant by closing?

Csaposs explained that his use of the word “closing” during the January meeting had to do with the IDA approval to provide the project sales and mortgage tax relief.

In June, members of the IDA board approved Pyramid’s $2.14 million request for sales-tax relief and another $75,000 break in mortgage taxes. At the time, the project had a $41.4 million price tag, with $32.4 million of that coming out of Pyramid’s pocket and the remaining $7.5 million coming by way of private-sector funding, which would become $13 million for which the company would receive $55,000 in additional mortgage breaks. 

Between March and May, overall  project costs rose from $39.9 million to $41.4 million, as machinery and equipment costs accounted for the entirety of the increase.  Also in May, Pyramid increased its sales- and use-tax exemption request from $5 million to $26.55 million.

The ask quadrupled the benefit received by the company, from $475,000 to about $2.2 million.

Asked if “closing” on the sales and mortgage tax relief is something that would hold up construction, Csaposs said, “It doesn’t legally hold up the project,” but if Pyramid were to start construction and “if anything happened to the project that would jeopardize the restrictions on the IDA financial assistance, they could be out that financial assistance.”

There are two separate things at work, Csaposs said. First, there is the legal process of: Can Pyramid start?

And then, there’s the financial process of: Should Pyramid start before it’s closed the transaction that confirms the financial benefit?

“So, prudent fiscal management dictates you don’t start the project until all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed,” Csaposs said.  

As for why Pyramid has yet to close the transaction, the company did not immediately respond to an Enterprise inquiry.