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UPDATE: This story was updated at 2:00 p.m. on Feb. 25, 2026.

Since 2022, Syracuse University has spent more than $140 million acquiring restaurants, apartment buildings and educational facilities, expanding its campus further into the city.

Thanks to SU’s status as a nonprofit institution, some of those newly purchased properties may qualify for tax exemption. This effectively shields the school from the terror of paying for the community resources it relies on.

Currently, SU’s fiscal year 2025 financial statements reported the university holds $1 billion in property. Fifty-one percent of that property goes untaxed, Maurice “Mo” Brown, Onondaga County legislator for the 15th district, said. If the university’s $1.7 billion in property were fully taxable, it would generate an estimated $49 million in annual property tax revenue, making the university the single largest contributor in the city.

This has left the city of Syracuse and its inhabitants to foot the rest of the bill.

SU owns approximately 0.87 square miles, or 560.25........

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