Last Reader’s Digest Employees Leave Chappaqua
Summit/Greenfield Vows to Pursue Tax Certs
Last week marked the end of an era for Reader’s Digest. Crews loaded boxes and crates onto trucks throughout the day on Dec. 10 as the fi nal 200 employees bid farewell to the 700,000-square-foot building with the iconic cupola. It ended Reader’s Digest presence in Chappaqua aft er 71 years. “It’s like leaving a home that you grew up in,” said Delores Worsham, a receptionist for 39 years who also used to give tours of the building to the public.” But there’s something else new and exciting ahead.” It will not be the end of the line for Reader’s Digest or Worsham, who will be moving on to White Plains while other employees will transfer there or to the company’s offices in Manhattan. On the final day, only the last vestiges of the once powerful publishing giant remained. Th e library, the oversized conference room, and offi ce after offi ce that at one time housed various senior editors, were deserted. During the past few years, the only remaining employees were largely administrative, tech and support staff . As the last of Reader’s Digest’s items were being loaded onto the trucks, a spokesman for Summit/Greenfi eld, the developer who bought the building and about 120 acres in 2004 and is trying to develop 199 housing units, announced that tax certioraris seeking a reduction of $2.37 million in property taxes will be activated. Th at sum represents just over half of the taxes paid on the parcel over the past three years. Spokesman Geoff rey Th ompson said the developer will pursue the tax certioraris fi led for 2008 and 2009 that are calling for refunds of $760,000 and $800,000 respectively. An additional grievance for 2010 has also been fi led and would return $810,000 if granted in full, he said. Th e 2008 and 2009 tax certs are currently on fi le in state Supreme Court. Thompson mentioned that as long as the planning process for the residences had been progressing, the developer had no intention of antagonizing the town despite being justifi ed in originally submitting the fi lings. “Just let them sit on a shelf because we have this other thing going and as long as we’re sort of going in the right direction why make a big stink about that,” Th ompson said. But with less than 100,000 square feet occupied by three tenants — Mount Kisco Medical Group, Northern Westchester Hospital and Fibre Media, a data backup firm — the building has nowhere near the value it had a few years ago, Thompson said. The current zoning prohibits Summit/ Greenfield from having more than four tenants and occupying more than 490,000 square feet at one time. It was the Reader’s Digest bankruptcy of August 2009 that was the significant game changer, he said. That allowed the company to get out of the 15 remaining years of its 20-year lease with Summit/Greenfield. Now, without Reader’s Digest’s rent and the zoning restrictions still in place, the owner has no choice but to seek the tax refunds. “When the Digest was here spinning off rent, that covered for a multitude of sins,” Thompson said. “That’s the real rub now. Now, you’re pulling money out of revenues to prop the thing up because there’s not enough revenue to pay for maintenance of the building. So that’s not a good investment.” A call early Monday morning for New Castle Supervisor Barbara Gerrard was not returned. The latest salvo between the two sides in the protracted planning process came on Nov. 30 when the New Castle Town Board passed a resolution 3-0 calling for significant changes in the Final Environmental Impact Statement. Summit/Greenfield has contended that the changes would likely require the entire environmental process to be redone.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/