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May 10, 2010
Year in review: Uncertainty for Manhattanville
The Empire State Development Corporation appealed in January to the New York State Court of Appeals, which will hear the eminent domain case on June 1.
Columbia Spectator
by Kim Kirschenbaum
The University’s Manhattanville expansion plan faced a setback this year after a state court declared eminent domain for the project illegal in December. This surprise ruling, which will send the case to New York’s highest court in June, has significantly raised the stakes of this protracted legal battle.
The New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division declared in December in a 3-2 decision that eminent domain—the process by which the state can seize private property for “public use” in exchange for market-rate compensation—in the 17-acre expansion zone is illegal, dealing a blow to the University’s long-term plans. It was an unexpected victory for Tuck-It-Away Self-Storage owner Nick Sprayregen and gas station owners Gurnam Singh and Parminder Kaur, the last private landowners in the expansion area who have not struck deals with the University.
The Empire State Development Corporation—the state body that approved eminent domain for the project in December 2008—appealed the decision in January to the New York State Court of Appeals, which will hear the case on June 1.
In the interim between the December ruling and the June appeal, the plaintiffs and respondents have been exchanging legal briefs. These briefs have honed in on, among other things, previous eminent domain cases whose legal precedents could be a bellwether for the upcoming case. Of particular interest is the November 2009 Goldstein v. New York State Urban Development Corporation case, in which the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of eminent domain for the Atlantic Yards commercial development in Brooklyn.
Posted by eric at May 10, 2010 9:47 AM