GUILDERLAND — Pyramid has increased its tax-break request from $475,000 to about $2.2 million to develop the planned Costco Wholesale on Western Avenue. 

The ask has drawn criticism from two long-time vocal opponents of the project, who were scheduled to protest the May 31 meeting of the Guilderland Industrial Development Agency, where the request was being made and a public hearing on the proposal was held.

(The meeting took place after The Enterprise had gone to press but news of the protest and meeting is posted to the newspaper’s website: altamontenterprise.com.)

Pyramid, through its local limited-liability company, Crossgates Releaseco, is building a 160,000-square-foot Costco store on 16 acres at the corner of Western Avenue and Crossgates Mall Road. The site would also include an 18-pump gas station, enough parking for 770 vehicles, and eight electric-vehicle charging stations. There are currently 14 non-operational buildings on the site, according to the company’s application, which it expects to demolish. 

Pyramid is seeking nearly $2.2 million in tax exemptions: $2,123,600 in sales tax relief (up from $400,000 in March) and a $75,000 break on the state’s mortgage-recording tax, and for the IDA to use its power of eminent domain to help it “acquire and extinguish any interest” the town has with roadways on the project site.

The requests led to the Guilderland Coalition for Responsible Growth, a local grassroots group that has opposed the project since its inception; Save the Pine Bush, a community group that has advocated to protect the globally rare pine barrens since 1978; and Mothers Out Front, a climate-centric not-for-profit, to schedule a protest prior to Wednesday’s IDA meeting.

The Guilderland Coalition for Responsible Growth in a release said, “Pyramid has sued the Town of Guilderland for many years over its property tax assessments. Now, it is seeking tax benefits that will cost ALL Albany County taxpayers.”

Pyramid’s initial three-site proposal — for Costco, 222 units of housing, and a yet-to-be-determined use — has been subjected to equally as many lawsuits, one of which was filed by Save the Pine Bush and all of which were ruled in the company and town’s favor. Pyramid has since sold the nearly 20-acre parcel, for $5.43 million to the United Group of Troy, which is now building the 222 units of housing. 

The coalition release also went after Pyramid’s eminent domain request, stating the taking of public property for private use “will benefit a private corporation, Pyramid and its tenant COSTCO which requires membership for people wishing to shop at this retail store.”

But Pyramid has lined up its own support for the project, with over 40 comments — including one from County Executive Daniel McCoy — in favor of the project being submitted to the IDA.

The overall project cost has gone from $39,900,100, according to Pyramid’s March application, to $41,400,100, according to an amended application submitted on May 16, with machinery and equipment costs accounting for the entirety of the increase, from $8 million to $9.5 million.

In its amended application, Pyramid increased the amount of requested exemptions, from sales and use taxes, from $5 million to $26.55 million. 

The project will create between 80 and 100 full-time jobs with a salary range between $38,480 and $160,000 and an average salary of about $60,400.

Once in operation, the store, after taking in $100 million during its first year, would have annual sales estimated between $150 and $180 million, according to an economic impact analysis of the project. Half of that would be considered new revenue to the town and county, meaning the two municipalities could expect to receive new sales-tax revenue on about half of Costco’s expected annual sales, between $75 and $90 million. 

The impact analysis estimated $157,000 in annual new tax revenue for Guilderland and over $1.8 million for Albany County, but the analysis did not estimate how much Pyramid expects to save by repeatedly suing Guilderland to lower its property tax bill.