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January 31, 2017

CAN GOVERNMENT DESIGNATE PROPERTY TO BE ACQUIRED AND RESTRICT FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS?

The North Carolina Supreme Court held that the filing of a map which designates property for future highway acquisition and prohibits development in the interim is a taking.  Kirby v North Carolina Dept. of Trans., 368 N.C. 847 (2016). The Court held, “upon NCDOT’s recording of the highway corridor maps at issue here, the Map Act restricted plaintiffs’ fundamental rights to improve, develop, and subdivide their property for an unlimited period of time.  These restraints, coupled with their indefinite nature, constitute a taking of plaintiffs’ elemental property rights by eminent… read more

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Posted in Highest and Best Use, Inverse Condemnation, Zoning
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October 10, 2016

A Perfect Example of The Highest And Best Use Concept

On September 21, 2016, New York’s Appellate Division, Second Department, handed down Matter of 730 Equity Corp. v New York State Urban Development Corp., __ AD3d ___, 2016 NY Slip Op 06086 (2d Dep’t 2016). If there was an eminent domain case book, this decision would be included as an example of establishing a highest and best use in a condemnation. The claim involved a one-half acre parcel of vacant land on Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.  The land was under a long term triple net lease to a major… read more

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Posted in Highest and Best Use, Recent cases, Zoning
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August 11, 2016

Grand Central Terminal Air Rights Takings Litigation Settled

The Grand Central Terminal air rights takings litigation was settled yesterday.  We reviewed this litigation in our blog on June 8, 2016, available here: https://eminent-domain-blog.com/update-grand-central-terminal-air-rights-takings-litigation/ This settlement will allow for the construction of a 1,401-foot-tall building across 42nd Street on Vanderbilt Avenue in Manhattan. Interestingly, the settlement, according to a New York Times article, dated August 10, 2016, is likely because of a change in the ownership of the plaintiff corporation.  The new owners are MSD Capital, a firm controlled by Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Computers, and brothers… read more

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Posted in Inverse Condemnation, Litigation, Zoning
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June 8, 2016

Update on the Grand Central Terminal Air Rights Takings Litigation

On September 28, 2015, Plaintiffs Midtown TDR Ventures LLC and Midtown GCT Ventures LLC, the owners of Grand Central Terminal, brought an action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against the City of New York, the City Council, and private real estate developer SL Green Realty Corporation, and argued that the May 27, 2015, Vanderbilt Corridor rezoning effected a taking of Plaintiffs’ transferable development rights, or air rights, in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Unused air rights have… read more

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Posted in Inverse Condemnation, New York, Regulatory Taking, Zoning
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May 3, 2016

New York Law Journal: Reasonable Probability of Rezoning as Component of Highest and Best Use

Michael Rikon authored a column in the April 26, 2016, edition of the New York Law Journal titled, “Reasonable Probability of Rezoning as Component of Highest and Best Use.” In his article, Mr. Rikon begins by explaining what the valuation concept of highest and best use is according to case law, the Appraisal Institute, and The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.  “Certainly, many owners do not manage their property in a way that provides the most productive highest and best use.”  But, once the property is condemned, it is… read more

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Posted in Eminent Domain, Highest and Best Use, Zoning
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