Realty Trust Must Pay Higher Tax Rate

City Tax Appeals Tribunal determined transfer was not eligible for special reduced rate. One Park Avenue Mezz Partners LLC, a subsidiary of industry giant Vornado Realty Trust, held a 100 percent equity interest in a commercial building located at One Park Avenue in Manhattan. In March 2011, while looking to refinance the building, Vornado had that equity interest transferred in full to two new subsidiary real estate investment trusts. The compensation was roughly $5.6 million … <Read More>


Reducing Racial Bias Embedded in Land Use Codes

Even though the Supreme Court struck down race-based land use controls over a hundred years ago in Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60 (1917) it has long been known that zoning continues to create or increase racial and economic segregation. Today communities across the U.S. are reexamining their zoning regulations to create more equal, equitable, inclusive, and resilient communities by removing requirements, limitations, or prohibitions that disproportionately and negatively impact individuals based on race … <Read More>


Public Health: Tobacco, Sugars, Trans Fats and Salt

In the twentieth century, primary causes of death and disability in America changed from communicable diseases to chronic diseases. This shift was in part due to the successes of public health as better sanitary conditions and immunizations reduced the burden of communicable diseases.  The shift, however, was also due to changes in lifestyle and longer life expectancies that caused the rates of chronic diseases to increase.


Preservation Consultant Gregory Dietrich on a Unique Path to a Unique Career

Gregory Dietrich, Principal of Gregory Dietrich Preservation Consulting, works as one of the small number of privately practicing historic preservation consultants. His vocation brings him into close contact with regulatory bodies, developers, land use agencies, advocacy groups, non-profit organizations and more.  This gives him a unique perspective, and requires a wide range of expertise he continues to broaden.  In conversation, his intellectual versatility becomes readily apparent, as he discussed his work, his background, and … <Read More>