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December 2, 2009
Eminent domain approval in Brooklyn revives questions about Manhattanville
University officials see the Atlantic Yards ruling as a possible bellwether for the Manhattanville cases, while plaintiffs disagree.
Columbia Spectator
by Maggie Astor
A recent New York State Court of Appeals ruling upholding the use of eminent domain for the Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn has sparked renewed interest in two similar cases concerning Columbia’s planned Manhattanville campus.
But the plaintiffs who challenge the use of eminent domain in Manhattanville say their cases are different, and do not see the pro-eminent domain decision as indicative of their chances.
Tuck-It-Away Self-Storage owner Nick Sprayregen and gas station owners Gurnam Singh and Parminder Kaur filed lawsuits in January with the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court, one level below the Court of Appeals. Both suits challenge the Empire State Development Corporation’s December 2008 approval of the state’s invocation of eminent domain for Manhattanville.
ESDC would seize private properties in the 17-acre expansion zone and transfer ownership to the University, which would pay the current owners market-rate value. Columbia controls over 90 percent of land in the area, and Sprayregen and the Singhs are the only landowners who refuse to sell.
NoLandGrab: While Sprayregen and his attorney, Norman Siegel, profess confidence (and we hope they're right), the State Court of Appeals appears to have rendered "private" a very tenuous adjective when it comes to property in New York.
Posted by eric at December 2, 2009 2:28 PM