Westchester County Business Journal 010818

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HOTEL TAX

FAMILY FARM

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11 JANUARY 8, 2018 | VOL. 54, No. 2

YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS

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13 westfaironline.com

Brownfield site cleared for Tuckahoe hotel COMMUNITY OPPONENTS CONTINUE LEGAL FIGHT BY ALESSIA FORNI aforni@westfairinc.com

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lans for a $31 million hotel and restaurant on a former brownfield site in Tuckahoe continue to move forward. Bill Weinberg, principal of Bilwin Development Associates LLC in Eastchester, said that the $7 million environmental cleanup of the former quarry and landfill at 109-125 Marbledale Road is substantially complete. “We’re close to 100 percent capped,” he said of the contamination on the 3.5-acre property. Weinberg’s company is developing a five-story, 153room Marriott Springhill Suites hotel on the property, along with a 6,000-square-foot standalone restaurant. The » TUCKAHOE

A rendering of the Marriott Springhill Suites hotel expected to open this year on Marbledale Road in Tuckahoe. An environmental cleanup of the brownfield site, shown in inset photo, is nearly complete. Photo by Aleesia Forni.

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Law firm sues Mount Vernon for unpaid bills ‘INTRAMURAL SPAT,’ MAYOR’S ‘SHEER SPITE’ BLAMED FOR NONPAYMENTS

BY BILL HELTZEL bheltzel@westfairinc.com

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law firm has sued Mount Vernon and Mayor Richard Thomas for not paying legal bills and has notified the City Council that it can no longer represent it. Silverberg Zalantis LLP, of Tarrytown, is demanding

$42,120 for unpaid bills going back to 2015, according to the lawsuit filed on Dec. 26 in Westchester Supreme Court. The complaint names Comptroller Maureen Walker and the city council, but the allegations focus squarely on Thomas. The mayor has refused to sign checks for legal payments, the complaint states, “due to perceived slights against him by other city officials and out of sheer spite.” “An intramural spat between government officials,” the firm said, “is not a valid basis for refusing to pay valid invoices.” Thomas in a written statement to the Business Journal said the problem lies with Walker,

Richard Thomas

whom he accused of selectively making payments to vendors, including other law firms. “This is how and why Mount Vernon

has developed a bad reputation to do business with,” he said. Thomas foreshadowed that position in a Nov. 22 letter to Walker to justify withholding his signature on a check to Silverberg Zalantis. “Only one politically connected law firm is being compensated,” he said, while “numerous attorneys have been retained by the city of Mount Vernon on a multitude of actions and they have yet to be paid.” Silverberg Zalantis has represented the city council since 2015, mostly on land use and zoning matters. It charges $300 an hour for partners, $180 to $220 for associates and $75 for paralegals. The complaint traces the » LAW FIRM

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