Westchester County Business Journal 091817

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7 | IN THE FAMILY SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 | VOL. 53, No. 38

23 | SPECIAL REPORT

YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS

westfaironline.com

Fear, tension, guilt and a glimmer of hope for Westchester immigrants BY ALEESIA FORNI

HURRICANE HELPERS

at $1.1 million, is on the small end of the real estate developer's portfolio. But the project fits with his passion for film, as the announcement from Cohen noted he owns a collection of more than 700 films. Cohen, who Forbes estimates is worth $2.8 billion, also recently revitalized and reopened the Quad Cinema in Greenwich Village. Cohen is chairman and CEO of Cohen Media Group, which has produced and distributed several films since it was founded in 2008. His first credit as a producer was on the 2008 film “Frozen River,” which received two Oscar nominations. “The audiences for independent and classic films are underserved here in New York and largely throughout the country due to the steady decline in the number of screens, as well as the aging infrastructure of the theaters that serve serious cinema lovers,” Cohen said in a statement. “I’m hopeful that my efforts to buy and upgrade movie houses of historical importance will » PLAYHOUSE, page 6

» DACA, page 6

Pam Koner outside the nonprofit she founded in Hastings-on-Hudson, which matches families here with those in impoverished circumstances nationwide in a one-to-one approach to fighting hunger and poverty. The group now is working with hurricane victims in Houston. Photo by Aleesia Forni

Second act

REAL ESTATE TYCOON, FILM BUFF BUYS LARCHMONT PLAYHOUSE rdeffenbaugh@westfairinc.com

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he Larchmont Playhouse, an 84-year-old theater in the village’s downtown, will receive a modern reboot from billionaire real estate developer and film producer Charles S. Cohen, who bought the property following more than a year of grassroots efforts to preserve it. Cohen, CEO of Cohen Brothers Realty Corp., announced the purchase on Sept. 8 and said he hopes to begin an 18-month renovation and redesign of the playhouse in early 2018. The three-screen theater has

been vacant since last September. Cohen did not disclose the purchase price or the cost of the proposed renovations. The announcement from Cohen said the playhouse at 1975 Palmer Ave., will be transformed into “one of the finest art house/repertory theaters in the Northeast, featuring classic, foreign and independent films.” Cohen’s real estate firm owns a number of commercial properties in midtown Manhattan, Florida and southern California. The portfolio includes the 500,000-squarefoot, Class A office complex at 333 Westchester Ave. building in White Plains. The Larchmont Playhouse, last listed

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n the wake of President Donald Trump’s recent announcement that he would rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that protects immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, Westchester County has already begun to feel the impact of that decision. “You have a lot of DACA recipients who are obviously confused by the whole process,” said Nelson Madrid, a senior immigration attorney with Pollack, Pollack, Isaac & DeCicco LLP, a Manhattan law firm with offices in Peekskill. “There is a lot of misunderstanding, and a lot of people are scared. They’re scared because they no longer feel protected.” Established in 2012, DACA allowed undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children to live and work legally in the U.S. for a renewable period of two years. In order to apply, immigrants had to be younger than 31 on June 15, 2012 and have lived in the states since 2007. “It does not give anyone legal status,” Madrid clarified. “It merely allows them the opportunity to obtain employment authorization.” Grantees, who are required to have entered the country when they were younger than 16, may also be eligible for a Social Security number and a driver’s license under the program. “For most crimes, you have to have intent. I’ve had clients tell me, ‘I didn’t know I was not born in the U.S. until my parents told me,’” Madrid said. “A 2- or a 4-year-old cannot make an informed decision. That’s just ridiculous, it’s absurd. Basically what we’re doing is punishing these people for the acts of their parents.” According to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, nearly 800,000

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BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

aforni@westfairinc.com


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