SFC, Cappelli, union reach labor agreement
By ALEX PHILIPPIDIS :: January 22, 2007

SFC Yonkers L.L.C. and one of its partners, Louis R. Cappelli, announced this morning they will disclose on Wednesday details of agreements they reached with Service International Employees Union Local 32BJ.

The agreements cover what a media advisory describes as “anticipated future union organizing of building service personnel” at SFC’s $3+ billion worth of redevelopment projects slated for Yonkers and Cappelli’s proposed $600 million, 1.2 million-square-foot LeCount Square project slated for an entire block of downtown New Rochelle.

Details will be announced Wednesday at a 10:45 a.m. press conference at the Yonkers Riverfront Library, One Larkin Plaza.

COMMENT: The deal should bring labor peace to Cappelli’s two large pending Westchester projects. Representatives of SFC and the Valhalla developer have signaled in recent months their desire to accommodate SEIU 32BJ – while the union created pressure on the developers by flexing a little public muscle last November.

SEIU 32BJ members raised qualms about Yonkers’ planned use of tax increment financing for SFC’s projects, and handed out leaflets to attendees of the 2006 Fall Leadership Event hosted by the Westchester County Association demanding that SFC create permanent jobs that pay an above-minimum “living” wage and include healthcare benefits. The event honored SFC and Yonkers Mayor Philip A. Amicone.

Greenberg Traurig eyes Lillian Vernon space
By ALEX PHILIPPIDIS :: January 22, 2007

Another Manhattan law firm is setting its sights on downtown White Plains.

Talk among brokers has Greenberg Traurig L.L.P. in negotiations for the 52,000 square feet in two floors vacated late last year by Lillian Vernon Corp. at 445 Hamilton Ave. The talks were mentioned – without the name of the law firm – during the BOMA Westchester “State of the Market” panel talk earlier this month.

No comment from brokers at CB Richard Ellis representing Greenberg Traurig and at Cushman & Wakefield representing 445 Hamilton, part of the two-building White Plains Plaza complex owned by Heyman Properties of Westport, Conn.

According to its Web site, Greenberg Traurig has 1,500 lawyers in 29 locations worldwide.

I added Greenberg Traurig to the print version of last week’s D&D exclusive – the 54,000-square-foot lease signed by Manhattan “white shoe” law firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz – which appears on the front page of this week’s Business Journal.

That story lists some of the Manhattan law firms that have found their way to White Plains over the past five years. The firms include Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom L.L.P., which has office and backup space at Reckson Metro Center at 360 Hamilton Ave.; Thacher Proffitt & Wood L.L.P., which has 23 attorneys at 50 Main St.; and two firms with backup space at Westchester One at 44 South Broadway, Cravath Swain & Moore L.L.P. and Davis Polk & Wardwell.

Except for Skadden Arps, none of the other Manhattan law firms sought state and county tax breaks through the Industrial Development Agency, noted Salvatore J. Carrera, Westchester’s director of economic development/real estate.

As I reported in 2002, Skadden Arps won the promise of $1.1 million in exemptions on state and county sales taxes on construction materials from the IDA. In return it chose White Plains over New Jersey as the site of a data center then valued at $16.9 million, plus offices for up to 150 people.

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