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May 24, 2007
Eminent Domain Threatens Brooklyn Financial Service Firm
Track Data Employs 100 Onsite, Overshadowed by Duffield Homes
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Sarah Ryley
During the hearing for Brooklyn's other land grab, the City Council heard testimony about another land grab:
The Duffield Street homes, allegedly linked to the Underground Railroad, dominated yesterday’s eminent domain hearing to consider the seizure of 21 properties on three blocks in Downtown Brooklyn.
Another lesser-known condemnee is Track Data Corporation, a financial service company six blocks from Duffield that employs 150 people and provides real-time financial and market data. The building, surrounded by parking lots, is within the BAM Cultural District, an area the city wants to turn into mixed-use developments and cultural centers orbiting the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
“Given the fairly small footprint of the building, what could you possibly want here more than a high-tech firm that pays salaries, employs 100 people [onsite] and has been here for several decades?” said Track Data spokesman Rafi Reguer. “What is it that you could replace it with that would be more valuable to the borough?”
The answer was nothing, at least for now.
...
Aviva Jakabowitz, Track Data’s corporate controller, testified that the company established its roots in the neighborhood more than 20 years ago, when there were crack vials laying around and employees had to arrange to exit the building in groups.“Someone, up in an office somewhere, thinks they have a better idea from their perspective. But somewhere else, I guarantee, there is a team of people in city government or city planning racking their brains trying to figure out how to get firms like us to locate here,” said Reguer.
NoLandGrab: The rub is that Track Data must fight the condemnation now, even though "officially" there are no plans for the site, or the corporation might suffer the same fate as a Port Chester property owner, whose case was thrown out by the courts because he missed the deadline to challenge the condemnation.
Posted by lumi at May 24, 2007 8:50 AM