About Pyramid Group

Pyramid Companies is the leading developer of shopping malls in the northeastern United States, concentrating on secondary markets. The company operates out of Syracuse, New York, birthplace of its charismatic and often controversial managing partner, Robert J. Congel. His personal worth is estimated by Forbes magazine to be $700 million, making him the 364th wealthiest person in the country. Pyramid is known as an aggressive company that operates within the letter but not necessarily the spirit of the law, according to some critics. It also has become a breeding ground for aspiring entrepreneurs and developers, a business boot camp of sorts that requires young associates to attend daily 6:30 a.m. meetings and to work long hours six days a week. Congel enjoys fierce loyalty from his lieutenants by lending them money to buy ownership stakes in the projects on which they work. As a result Pyramid is a nest of partnerships between Congel, his associates, and local ownership groups, with Congel reportedly owning from 50 percent to 90 percent of each project. In recent years he and Pyramid have become preoccupied with a project dubbed DestiNY USA, a megamall tourist attraction to grow out of an existing Pyramid mall in Syracuse. DestiNY USA, unless scaled back, would be larger than Minnesota's Mall of America and feature 400 stores, 30 restaurants and cafés, 20 movie screens, two Broadway-style theaters, and a concert hall. If as successful as Pyramid studies indicate, DestiNY USA will draw more visitors than San Francisco, New Orleans, or Disneyland.