Marcus and Azarian of Marcus & Pollack achieve tax cut for Marriott Courtyard at Laguardia Airport; Lebowitz of Abrams Fensterman was co-counsel

New York, NY In a decision that could have implications for all NYC hotels, a Queens Court handed down a ruling that reduced the property taxes to be paid by the Marriott Courtyard at LaGuardia Airport. The court ordered a reduction of 85% of the tax assessment levied against the hotel, covering tax years 2014-2015 through 2018-2019.

The total tax savings for all tax years is in excess of $11 million.  The assessment for 2018-2019, was reduced from $25.339 million to $1.935 million, a refund of $2.46 million for that year alone.

The ruling followed a trial which began in November 2019 in which Queens judge Joseph Risi would not accept the appraised values of the 288-room hotel introduced by the city. Instead, Risi relied upon and adopted the market and assessed values presented in the hotel taxpayer’s report.

“Every hotel owner should be cheered by this important decision, which stands for the proposition that you can get a redress and justice through the court system on a property tax challenge,” said Joel Marcus of Marcus & Pollack LLP, which represented the Queens Marriott Courtyard in the case.

The case could have implications for all NYC hotel owners and operators, since the city’s tax assessment system is a pre-pandemic evaluation, and consistently overvalues hotel properties.

Marcus and Philip Azarian of Marcus & Pollack LLP represented the hotel and Jeffrey Lebowitz of Abrams Fensterman was co-counsel.