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Steinhardt Pesick & Cohen shareholder Jerome Pesick serves on winning legal team in contentious eminent domain case against the City of Pontiac

SPC; November 12, 2018

Nearly $7.4 million settlement favored Ottawa Towers in long-standing dispute

Birmingham, Mich.---November 12, 2018 – Jerome P. Pesick, managing shareholder of Steinhardt Pesick & Cohen, P.C. (SPC), a Michigan-based law firm specializing in eminent domain and condemnation, land use, commercial property tax appeals and commercial real estate litigation, was part of a legal team that achieved a major settlement today for a client in a protracted eminent domain case against the City of Pontiac.

Southfield, Michigan law firm, Maddin Hauser Roth & Heller, PC, sought out Pesick’s help to handle the eminent domain issues specifically and to otherwise assist in the disputes between their client, the owners of the Ottawa Towers office complex, and the City of Pontiac.  Pesick obtained a dismissal of the eminent domain case and, with the legal team, negotiated a global settlement of more than $7 million for their client.

“I was pleased to work as a part of the wining legal team in this challenging eminent domain dispute, which involved not only office buildings, but the right of the property owners and their tenants to use the Phoenix Center parking structure, one of the city’s largest,” Pesick said. “The City sought to demolish the parking structure, which would have damaged the Ottawa Towers in the process, without any legal standing to do so. Ultimately, this case was about following the rule of law, and the law won.”

The settlement provided Ottawa Towers a monetary payment of more than $7,350,000, including $350,000 for attorneys’ fees, and confirmed Ottawa Towers’ parking rights in the Phoenix Center parking structure.

Possessing 40 years’ experience in eminent domain and condemnation law, Pesick was lead counsel on behalf of the property owners in the largest eminent domain verdict in Michigan history, rendering $25 million in a case that involved a 6.3-acre parcel on the Detroit River with an original government offer of $13.7 million.  Among his many notable cases, Pesick and his colleagues at SPC are currently working with several commercial property owner clients on eminent domain cases involving the development of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.

In addition to eminent domain, Pesick regularly represents clients in complex commercial real estate litigation, land use issues, and major property tax appeal cases concerning all types of business properties including commercial, office, industrial, agricultural, mixed-use and vacant land. 

Steinhardt Pesick & Cohen (SPC)
Steinhardt Pesick & Cohen is Michigan’s leading law firm representing commercial property owners in eminent domain, condemnation, property tax matters and complex commercial real estate litigation.  Possessing nearly 100 years’ combined experience, SPC’s attorneys represent owners of office, industrial, retail, multi-family, research and development, hospitality, agricultural, mixed-use, and vacant properties.