State loses $126 mln
eminent domain case over new
SUNY center
Thomson Reuters News & Insight NEW YORK, Nov 25
(Reuters) -
http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/New_York/News/2011/11_-_November/State_loses_$126_mln_eminent_domain_case_over_new_SUNY_center/
The state of New York
has lost a bid to undo a $126 million award granted to a Long
Island real estate company in an eminent domain dispute over land
to expand a state university.
The Appellate Division, Second Department, on
Wednesday affirmed a lower court ruling that rejected the state's $26 million
valuation of the 246-acre parcel on Long Island's North Shore.
The state launched a condemnation action in 2005 in order to construct a
research center at SUNY Stony Brook to focus on wireless technology and
homeland security.
Property owner Gyrodyne
Co., a former defense manufacturer, had planned to develop the site, known as Flowerfield, as a golf course and residential community and
said the property was worth about $126 million.
The state had asserted that the highest and
best use of the parcel, the legal standard used to establish a condemnation
award, was as light industrial, which meant it was worth only about $26
million. Gyrodyne argued that it was worth much more
as residential property.
The appeals court agreed with Gyrodyne. "The trial court properly rejected the
appraisal submitted by the State of New
York, since the evidence demonstrated that the
highest and best use of the property was as a residential development."
Gyrodyne President and CEO
Stephen Maroney said in a news release that the company
was "extremely gratified" by the decision.
Arguing the case for the State of New York was the Office
of the New York State Attorney General. Calls seeking comment from that office
were not immediately returned on Friday.
The case is Gyrodyne
Company of America v. State
of New York,
No. 12279, Appellate Division, Second Department.
For Gyrodyne: Joseph
Clasen, Robinson & Cole, New York.
For the State of New York, Attorney General
Eric Schneiderman, New York.
(Reporting by Leigh Jones)
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