Syracuse N.Y. — Few things are as linked by tradition and history as Syracuse University and the Varsity Pizza shop in the Marshall Street area.
The relationship is now even stronger: SU last month bought a strip of four commercial properties on South Crouse Avenue that includes the Varsity, Faegan’s Pub and other retail and commercial spaces.
The seller was the Dellas family, which started Varsity Pizza back in 1926 and has added other properties and businesses to its portfolio over the years. Faegan’s opened in 1978.
The $12 million sale makes SU the landlord for the properties. But the Dellas family will still run the Varsity and Faegan’s and manage leasing and other operations, according to John Dellas, a principal in the family business with his cousins Jerry and Tom Dellas.
Fans of the Varsity and Faegan’s shouldn’t notice any immediate changes, John Dellas said.
“We’re still here and still operating and leasing the properties,” he said. “Nothing’s really changing, except the university is now the owner.”
SU confirmed that scenario.
“Syracuse University has purchased the four parcels of property located at 732-40, 742, 746 and 802 South Crouse Ave.,” Sarah Scalese, the university’s senior associate vice president for communications, said in a statement. “While the University owns this property, the businesses contained within, including Varsity Pizza, will continue to operate independently, as they have in the past.”
Scalese also said the purchase does not take the properties off the city and county tax rolls.
The Dellas family has been considering the future of the landmark properties for some time. At one point, the Dellases considered building a new 10-story development on the properties, while keeping the Varsity and Faegan’s as ground floor operations.
That didn’t happen, and more recently, the family has been looking for partners to ensure the future of the businesses, he said.
“This something that we’ve been working on for a long time,” John Dellas said. “This seems to be in the best interest of both the community and our family.
“SU being the owners is the perfect fit,” he added, noting that the Dellas family has always had a strong relationship with the university. “If anything, makes it (that relationship) even stronger.”
The Varsity has always seemed like a place where time has stood still, including its famous pizza and wings and the tradition of flipping over opponents’ pennants whenever SU football wins a game.
But Faegan’s has undergone a few changes recently, mostly forced by the Covid pandemic, Dellas said. It no longer serves lunch and dinner, but has become more of a later evening place for drinks and finger food.
“It’s almost become more of a true pub,” he said.
SU’s acquisition of the South Crouse Avenue properties follows other high-profile moves the university has made in the areas near campus.
Last year, SU bought The Marshall, a high-rise residential and retail complex located at 727 S. Crouse Ave. (in the former alleyway that once housed Marshall Street landmarks like Hungry Chuck’s, Sutter’s Mill and more). The sale price was $69.4 million.
The Dellas family had previously owned a piece of that property, on which The Marshall was built in 2018 by a private developer.
More recently, SU paid $11 million to the city for a contract to oversee and maintain Thornden Park. Some neighbors in the area criticized that move as a “land grab” by SU.
John Dellas said he has no issues with SU’s decision to increase its footprint in the Marshall Street area.
“It’s important for the community and for the university to look out for what’s happening up here,” he said. “I don’t believe there would be any other entity that would be more community-minded than the university.”
Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.
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