Town of Clarkstown, School District Fight Palisades Center’s Tax Appeal

The Palisades Center filed a challenge to its Town of Clarkstown and Clarkstown School District property tax assessments for the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 in Rockland County Supreme Court. The non-jury trial on the tax certiorari is scheduled to begin on Monday, May 14 before Judge Margaret Garvey.

The 42 parcels that make up the shopping center in West Nyack had an assessed value of $252,958,700 for each of the three years.

Clarkstown Town Supervisor Alex Gromack said he believes the town assessor’s valuations of the property were accurate.

“We have a lot of confidence in Cathy Conklin’s assessment record,” he said. 

Gromack said the town and school district have a joint fund to pay for the legal representation. Special Counsel Kaye Scholer LLP of New York City has been retained to handle the tax cert case. Gromack said the firm was hired because of its expertise in large mall cases and represented the town and school district in a prior challenge eight years ago in which the mall’s tax grievance was denied.

The law firm of Gilberti Stinziano Heint & Smith PC of Syracuse represents the mall. The four-level mall has 2.2 million square feet of gross leasable area. Eklecco Newco LLC owns the Palisades Center.