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Nyack Building LLC, Owner Of Former Alliance Theological Seminary In Upper Nyack With Plans To Open Yeshiva, Loses Property Tax Exemptions
Owners of the former Alliance Theological Seminary at 350-360 North Highland Avenue in Upper Nyack have filed three petitions in Rockland County Supreme Court after the Town of Clarkstown removed the property’s tax exemptions for tax years 2024 through 2026.
According to public records, the property was designated “tax exempt” under its non-profit charitable ownership status for tax years 2024 and 2025 when it was owned by Yeshiva Viznitz Dkhal Torath Chaim. For 2026, under its new ownership, that non-profit tax status was removed.
In July, notice was sent to Nyack Building, LLC, the entity that purchased the property from Yeshiva Viznitz Dkhal Torath Chaim after Viznitz acquired the Nyack College properties in 2020. Nyack College closed Alliance Theological Seminary in 2019 and moved its operations to its Manhattan campus. The building has been vacant since 2019.
Nyack Building LLC paid $6.5 million for the property in June of 2025. Nyack Building LLC was established in April of 2025 as a New York State for-profit limited liability company.
The periods affected include 2024/2025 school taxes, 2024/2025 town/county taxes, 2025/2026 school taxes, 2025/2026 town/county taxes. Taxes due from those years were added onto 2026/2027 tax bills.
Part of the property is located in Upper Nyack (Lot 59.16-2-3) and part in the Town of Clarkstown, outside Upper Nyack (Lot 59-16-1-11). School taxes due on the Upper Nyack parcel total for 2026/2027 are $501,037.12. School taxes on the Clarkstown parcel total $132,901.12.
The Clarkstown assessor assessed the Upper Nyack parcel at about $2.9 million, representing a fair market value of $14.6 million. The Clarkstown parcel is assessed at $561,000, representing a fair market value of $2.8 million.
According to the court file, Nyack Building LLC, based in Airmont, says the notices changing the status were not made on the proper forms, and were untimely, legally defective, and did not follow the proper statutory requirements.
Petitioner challenges the lack of notice required when a property’s tax status changes from exempt to taxable, but state law says the “failure to mail any such notice or failure of the owner to receive the same shall not prevent the levy, collection and enforcement of the payment of taxes on such real property.”
Petitioner also challenges Clarkstown’s selective practice of re-assessing properties that are recently transferred, saying it violates the law. It argues that the Town’s failure to re-assess all properties town-wide puts an unfair burden on recent property purchasers.
New York State Real Property Tax Law generally requires all properties in an assessing unit to be assessed at a uniform percentage of market value. Reassessing a single property just because it sold—often called a “welcome stranger” assessment—is considered unconstitutional selective reassessment. Loss of a nonprofit real property tax exemption is generally not considered a reassessment.
Nyack Building, in its petition, argues that the correct assessments going forward should be $99,250 on each of the two parcels, representing a fair market value of less than $1 million for the properties.
Nyack Building has a proposal pending before the Upper Nyack planning board to convert the long-vacant office building that formerly housed the Alliance Theological Seminary into a yeshiva for pre-K through 8th grade students. It would lease the property to Congregation Ramapo Cheder to operate the religious school.
Ramapo Cheder plans to use the building, with interior and exterior modifications, for 440 boys and 90 staff members. The building’s footprint would remain unchanged, but the interior would be reconfigured for the new use, and the façade would be updated. Day schools are allowed by Special Permit in the OB zone, where the property is located.
The proposal has been hindered by the extent of environmental review required under the State Environmental Review Act (SEQRA) and difficulty providing emergency egress for first responders.
Residents in Upper Nyack have banded together in opposition to a proposal before the Village Planning Board. A group of over 100 neighbors living in close proximity to the proposed yeshiva formed High Plains Management, LLC, (HPM) according to its attorneys at White Plains-based Marks DiPalermo & Wilson. Neighbors’ concerns range from traffic to safety to runoff to loss of habitat – issues that will have to be addressed during the SEQRA process. The group has raised over $20,000 in a GoFundMe campaign to fight the approval.
Plans have also been submitted by the applicant’s traffic engineers to the New York State Department of Transportation to modify Route 9W with turn lanes going up to the yeshiva, as well as adding a turn lane onto Riverton Drive.
Consideration must also be given to approved plans and work underway for Nyack High School which is modifying its Route 9W access by creating a four-way signalized intersection across from Birchwood Avenue with a left-turn lane into the high school from Route 9W.
Route 9W is already clogged with school bus traffic and serves as the primary access to Nyack Hospital’s emergency room on North Midland Avenue.
