After lawsuit wins, Crossgates saves over $1M annually in property taxes

by Sean Mulkerrin

GUILDERLAND — Perhaps there is a limit. 

Last month, Pyramid Management Group, the owner of Crossgates Mall, notified the Guilderland Industrial Development Agency that it was withdrawing its application for already-approved Costco Wholesale tax breaks worth $2.2 million. No reason was given. 

But an Enterprise compiling of Crossgates’ property tax payments show the mall and by extension its parent company have and are due to save millions due to successfully lowering Crossgates’ assessed value. 

The settlement of a series of lawsuits filed against the town of Guilderland between 2020 and 2024 yielded Crossgates an assessed value of $177 million, down from $282.5 million.

The most recent available public data show the seven parcels that make up Crossgates paid at least $1.37 million less in taxes than they did prior to the successful lowering of the mall’s assessment.

Going forward, Crossgates will not be depriving the schools, the town, or the county of revenue; rather, the difference in value between its former and current assessments is spread across the rest of the area’s taxpayers — the residents and businesses who own property.

In 2025, the mall paid $1.25 million in town and county taxes, while Crossgates’ 2022 town and county bill totaled $1.85 million. In 2024, the most-recent available data, Crossgates paid Guilderland schools $3.6 million in taxes. Two years earlier, that figure was $4.5 million.

 

More Guilderland News

  • The Guilderland Zoning Board on June 4 approved the special-use permit application of Kent Hansen to turn the former seminary and recovery center at 1180 Berne-Altamont Road into the Inns of Altamont.  

  • Director Hawver credits Senator Patricia Fahy, an Albany Democrat, for “taking the lead,” writing letters to Kathy Hochul, “urging the governor in the budget this year to include money for an upgrade to the grounds, the outdoor portion of our Discovery Center, to improve it for safety, accessibility, aesthetics, and sustainability.”

  • The approval allows Pyramid to move forward with a specific development project for the site, a process that involves obtaining a special-use permit and undergoing all reviews associated with the permit application. 

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