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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

  • A majority of the 43 operators, laborers, and mechanics in the potential bargaining unit have signed cards choosing the Civil Service Employees Association as their bargaining representative, according to the union. 

  • “Let’s clarify what this is and what this isn’t," Chief Executive Officer Donald Csaposs said, opening a conversation on the topic during the IDA’s March meeting. “We’re not here to pass any policy revisions ... We’re here to have a very preliminary discussion of what workforce housing in Guilderland might look like as it relates to the provision of financial assistance by the IDA.”

  • Altamont’s tax rate for 2025-26 is set to increase 2.25 percent, from about $2.20 per $1,000 of assessed value to $2.25 per $1,000. The corresponding tax levy will increase from $329,271 to $338,976. 

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