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March 16, 2007
Case Returned To Sender
Wrong Address Causes Ratner to Lose Control (of 1 acre)
Another BD Star weekly wrap-up by Norman Oder features developer Shaya Boymelgreen's legal defeat in his attempt to make a deal with Bruce Ratner behind property owner Henry Weinstein's back:
The court ruled that Weinstein's tenant, developer Shaya Boymelgreen, improperly assigned leases to a Pacific Street building and adjacent parking lot to an affiliate of Forest City Ratner after sending notice to Weinstein at the wrong address.
"I'm pleased that the truth prevailed today," declared Weinstein, who had said the developer had "unclean hands" in the deal. While an additional acre of the 22-acre footprint is out of the control of the developer, pending an appeal by Boymelgreen, it's not exactly clear what that means to the project. Forest City Ratner announced that the decision would not deter demolition plans for other properties in the footprint. Nor should the case specifically stop the exercise of eminent domain, but project opponents Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn predicted that, should the eminent domain be sustained in court, the ruling in the Weinstein case would "substantially increase" the developer's costs. Boymelgreen had argued that Weinstein used the legal fight to shore up his negotiating position with Ratner, while Weinstein responded that Boymelgreen's deal with Ratner would diminish the value of his property.
Posted by lumi at March 16, 2007 10:08 AM