Judge rules Palisades Center’s expansion must be approved by public vote

The owner of Palisades Center in West Nyack, Rockland County, has lost its bid to get approval to expand without voter approval, LoHud reported. Delaware-based EklecCo NewCo, which owns and operates the mall, claimed in a lawsuit that a restrictive covenant preventing it from expanding without a public referendum breached its rights. Last week, however, a federal judge in White Plains dismissed the company’s case. The same judge also nixed EklecCo’s claims in June 2018, but gave the company a chance to re-argue some of them, according to the outlet. EklecCo filed its lawsuit in 2016 after years of negotiations with the Town of Clarkstown. Local residents voted in 2002 that the mall shouldn’t be allowed to expand. “We are pleased that the federal judge supported the town’s position and look forward to putting this costly litigation behind us,” Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann said. Lohud noted that Palisades Center, which opened in 1998, generated $21.4 million in property taxes and $23.5 million in sales tax revenue for Rockland in 2018. [LoHud]