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November 19, 2009
Home and property owners say state's offers for Atlantic Yards property adds insult to injury
NY Daily News
By Erin Durkin
Hardball eminent domain tactics begin with lowballing property owners under threat of condemnation.
Chief opponent Daniel Goldstein got a letter offering $510,000 if his three-bedroom Pacific St. condo is taken by eminent domain. He paid $590,000 for it in 2003.
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"That's way low. That's ridiculous," said Slope Heights Realty broker Tony Atterbury, who added a 1,290-square foot, two-bathroom apartment like Goldstein's could fetch somewhere between $720,000 and $900,000.
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Peter Williams said he was offered $432,000 for the one-story Sixth Ave. loft building where his two grown kids live - a far cry from the $2.5 million Ratner offered two years ago."They lowball everything," he said. "There's no way I could replace the living space that my kids are in in an equivalent neighborhood for the money they've offered me."
And Henry Weinstein said the $16 million he was offered for a 7-story office building and parking lot on Pacific St. is less than it's worth.
Weinstein - already embroiled in a complicated battle with a tenant who tried to turn the property over to Ratner without his permission - said the offer is just the latest slap in the face.
"They're bank robbers," he said. "I couldn't be more aggravated and mad than I am."
Additional coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, Daily News: other AY footprint landowners also have been low-balled
Yes, the first offer is not definitive and, should condemnation proceed, they'll get that, and hash out the rest in court. Still, the ESDC's appraiser does not appear to have read the ESDC-commissioned KPMG report, since the offer for Goldstein's apartment is below the Prospect Heights minimum.
Posted by lumi at November 19, 2009 7:10 AM