« Noticing New York on the Goldstein settlement: the bargain the state enabled Ratner, bad public policy on free speech, and the ongoing battle | Main | The Times's Dining section discovers new restaurants thriving less than a block from blight »
May 5, 2010
Atlantic Yards holdout Peter Williams claims developer Bruce Ratner doesn't own air rights
NY Daily News
by Erin Durkin
Just when developer Bruce Ratner thought he'd grabbed all the land he needed for his Atlantic Yards project, a property owner is staking one last claim - to the air above the site.
Peter Williams insists he still owns the air rights over a Sixth Ave. lot - and says the state forgot to condemn it when they used eminent domain to seize the rest of the site.
He sued the state Tuesday, charging the Empire State Development Corp. is trying to "steal" his property and "intends to proceed as if it owns property it plainly does not.
"They screwed up," Williams said.
...The state took possession of the Sixth Ave. building where Williams' grown children lived on March 1 - but never filed to condemn the air rights he owns over the former condo building next door.
"I have something of value that they're not paying me for," he said. "They're trying to run me over with a steamroller."
Williams came to own the air rights over the building next door in 2001, in return for letting the owner route an emergency exit through his property.
But other property owners at the project site can't follow Williams into court looking for a payday: Their air rights were taken by the state along with their land.
Without Williams' air rights, Ratner can't build anything taller than four stories at the site. He also can't claim the "vacant possession" of the project site he needs before turning over ownership of the NBA's New Jersey Nets to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. The Nets are slated to move into the Barclays Center arena in 2012.
Related coverage...
The Real Deal, AY air rights the latest hurdle for Ratner
A former Prospect Heights property owner is claiming to own the air rights to a part of the site where Bruce Ratner plans to build his new Nets arena and is suing the state for trying to "steal" it.
...If the court rules in Williams' favor, a state condemnation of his air rights could take up to two years -- time that could devastate the project.
Curbed, The Last Last Holdouts
Bruce Ratner thought he had cleared out the last Atlantic Yards holdout when he struck a $3 million deal with Daniel Goldstein, but it turns out Goldstein has competition for the "last holdout" title.
NY Post, Air-rights suit hits Nets plan
Posted by eric at May 5, 2010 10:42 AM