Onondaga County giraffe exhibit advances slowly, land deal now key

Onondaga County’s giraffe exhibit has slipped far from the timetable laid out in earlier capital plans, and the biggest holdup now is not animal selection or exhibit concept but land. County officials say the Rosamond Gifford Zoo’s Savannah Connection Project is still alive in 2026, yet the project remains in an early stage while the county works to secure acreage tied to the former Syracuse Developmental Center.

That is a notable slowdown from the 2024 capital improvement plan, which set aside $7.85 million for an African savanna exhibit and projected that engineering and design would begin in early 2025, with construction starting later that same year. In February 2024, zoo leadership said giraffes were at the top of the wish list, along with antelopes, gazelles and possibly lions. More than two years later, county officials are still sorting out the basic ground rules before design can move ahead.

The land question centers on about seven acres from the Syracuse Developmental Center site, a 47-acre parcel the city acquired in 2019 after the previous owner stopped paying taxes. State and local officials have described the property as badly blighted, and Syracuse moved forward in October 2025 on a redevelopment plan that calls for hundreds of residential units while reserving some land for zoo expansion. County Executive Ryan McMahon has said the county wants to work with the city to finalize the transfer so the housing plan and the zoo expansion can advance together.

For taxpayers, the delay matters because the final cost remains unsettled and the county has not formally requested the full amount listed in earlier plans. That leaves the Savannah Connection Project in a planning phase that has outgrown its original schedule, even as public expectations were set around a quicker start.

The zoo itself is a major regional institution. Founded in 1914 and accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums since 1987, the Rosamond Gifford Zoo says it is home to more than 700 animals representing 216 species on 43 acres. It renewed its AZA accreditation in 2024, with the zoo pointing to animal welfare, conservation and education as core standards.

The broader institutional picture also shifted this week. On April 23, 2026, Onondaga County and the Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo announced a new memorandum of understanding intended to modernize roles and support future zoo enhancements. That agreement followed a public dispute in 2026, including tensions over whether the Friends group should donate $1 million to the county’s aquarium project.

Taken together, the giraffe exhibit is no longer just an animal attraction on a capital plan. It is now bound up with land transfer negotiations, housing redevelopment on Syracuse’s West Side and the county’s own capital priorities, all of which will shape how fast, and how far, the zoo expansion can actually move.