Mount Moor Cemetery in West Nyack, NY, brings American history to life
Willie Trotman, Bill Watson and Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann discuss the significance of Mount Moor Cemetery in West Nyack.
- In 2016, the mall’s owners took out a $418 million mortgage. Creditors said they were unable to repay the money.
- The aim of the foreclosure is to sell the shopping center and all its facilities in order to recover the amount owed.
- City officials said that supervision of the shopping center is already ensured by a special administrator, so the provisional insolvency administrator on site is unlikely to change much.
WEST NYACK — A temporary receiver has been appointed for the Palisades Center, court records show, as the mall’s owner continues to fight an attempt by its creditors to foreclose on the massive retail property.
The move is seen as a natural progression in the foreclosure process. The shopping center was already operating under supervision, city officials confirmed.
In an order filed in Manhattan on August 12, state Supreme Court Justice Francis A. Kahn III appointed Chris Neilson, managing partner of Trigild IVL, LLC, as provisional receiver.
The interim receiver has the authority to collect and set rents for stores and other vendors and to enter into new leases with tenants. The receiver may not make any repairs or improvements valued at more than $5,000 unless the mall owners agree. Emergency repairs are exempt.
The bankruptcy trustee would use the money collected from tenants to pay the mall’s bills.
An email request for comment to Neilson was not immediately answered.
An email request for comment from the Palisades Center was not immediately answered.
Meanwhile, the plaintiff, Wilmington Trust, continues to seek full foreclosure, which means selling the mall and its facilities, with the lenders using the proceeds to pay off the delinquent mortgage, interest and legal costs.
Keep watch, maintain location
While the foreclosure process progressed, the mall had been under the supervision of a special contractor for some time, said Clarkstown County Supervisor George Hoehmann.
In many respects, the supervision will not change much, said Hoehmann.
Like the special inspector, the receiver protects the city, Hoehmann said, because the receiver would maintain the property. The city has already seen improvements to its property under the special inspector’s supervision, Hoehmann said.
Meanwhile, the mall was owed $27.5 million in property taxes after the owners reached an agreement with the city last month to resolve a years-long legal dispute over the tax assessment.
How the shopping center was foreclosed
The 200,000-square-foot shopping and entertainment complex, less than an hour’s drive from New York City, was once one of the most popular shopping destinations in the United States and remains one of the largest.
The mall took out a $418 million mortgage in 2016; its creditors went to court in Manhattan in 2023 after the mall’s owner, EklecCo, failed to repay the loan even after granting payment deferrals.
Shopping center faces foreclosure: Creditors sue Palisades Center. What’s at stake
Wilmington Trust, which represents the mall’s creditors, filed a lawsuit seeking commercial mortgage foreclosure in New York County Supreme Court on February 10, 2023.
Various promissory notes issued to banks JPMorgan and Barclays in April 2016 added up to the amount Wilmington Trust is now demanding. The mortgages were taken out on the mall itself. According to court documents, the property subject to the mortgage is a “mixed-use building consisting of a shopping center, parking, offices and other uses, commonly known as the Palisades Center in Clarkstown, New York.”
In 2020, citing the stresses of the COVID pandemic, the mall and Wilmington Trust reached an agreement that extended the loan’s maturity to October 9, 2022.
According to its creditor, the shopping center did not pay.
“The borrower has failed to repay the outstanding amounts on the due date and this default continues,” the court filing states.
The creditor and the mall owner agreed to a “deferment agreement” that gave the mall until November 8, 2022 to raise the money.
They didn’t.
The mortgage lenders demanded action against EklecCo NewCo LLC and the other Pyramid Cos. subsidiaries that own the mall, including Queens Comic’s NewCo LLC, Riesling Associates and Three J’s Family Trust.
How does Clarkstown’s property tax code fit into this?
The city and the mall’s owners reached a settlement in July in a years-long tax dispute that played out in state Supreme Court in Rockland County. The deal reduced the mall’s tax burden and required the city, Clarkstown School District and county to pay $27.5 million in restitution.
Although the ongoing enforcement proceedings and the tax challenge were not related, they are nevertheless linked.
Part of EklecCo’s defense in the foreclosure proceedings was that the mall’s value had plummeted, in part due to the damage the COVID pandemic had caused to all retailers.
Mall settlements: Clarkstown reaches tax agreement and returns millions to Palisades Center and Shops at Nanuet
The property tax value determined in July is $300 million. According to the agreement, this value will remain the same for at least three years.
The Palisades Center’s market value was estimated by the owners at $160 million, while the mall’s value was most recently set by the city at $392 million. So the tax agreement set a property value that is still significantly higher than what the mall’s owners claimed, Hoehmann said.
The mall’s relationship with the community has long been difficult. Even before the mall opened in 1998, the company had been contesting its tax assessment. Clarkstown City Council meetings were filled with loud riots as neighbors objected to the permits requested by the developer.
