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August 4, 2009
Who the city calls when it wants to move people
Cornerstone Group quietly steps in when city and state attempt to use eminent domain
The Real Deal
by Gabby Warshawer
The Empire State Development Corporation's go-to firm for "relocation advisory services" gets lukewarm reviews from its "clients" — property owners in the eminent domain crosshairs.
In late June, tenants and property owners in the Atlantic Yards footprint received a letter stating that reps from a company called Cornerstone Group Real Estate Services would soon be paying them a visit.
The letter, which was sent by the Empire State Development Corporation's eminent domain counsel, said Cornerstone would "explain the relocation advisory services and relocation assistance that they will provide."
While Cornerstone has been in the business for decades, it does not maintain a Web site. Sources who have worked with the firm say its principals, Gary Curry and Stuart Polinsky, are publicity shy.
Nevertheless, Cornerstone is a familiar name to property owners and residents across the city who have faced eminent domain.
...[Cornerstone is] involved in almost every case we've worked on," says Michael Rikon, a partner in the law firm Goldstein, Goldstein, Rikon & Gottlieb [NLG: no relation to DDDB spokesperson Daniel Goldstein], which specializes in condemnation proceedings. "What they do is try to talk to people who are on the site and offer them other locations to move to."
Rikon, who says that he's known Gary Curry for around two decades, currently works on behalf of residents and property owners who have been threatened with displacement by the Willets Point and Atlantic Yards projects.
Rikon, who characterizes his relationship with Curry as "warm," says Cornerstone "had no business talking to tenants" in the Atlantic Yards footprint before the site is legally condemned, and says that the company jumped the gun by reaching out to residents and owners in late June.
Posted by eric at August 4, 2009 9:31 PM