In re the City of New York

24 Misc. 2d 190, 201 N.Y.S.2d 443, 1959 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2364
New York Supreme Court·Decided December 17, 1959·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

William C. Hecht, Jr., J.

This is a proceeding in eminent domain brought by the City of New York to acquire title to the real property required for the Lincoln Square Slum Clearance Project within the area bounded by West 60th Street, Amsterdam Avenue, West 66th Street, lands of New York Central Railroad, West 70th Street, Amsterdam Avenue, West 66th Street and Columbus Avenue, excluding all streets, in the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York.

The trial extended over a period of several months. In compliance with the statutory requirement, the court viewed the properties on several occasions.

After considering all the evidence and after due deliberation, the court fixes awards as follows:

Damage Parcel Land Improvements Total
100-101-102 $40,000 $28,000 $68,000

[192] Awards for fixtures and machinery are as follows:

[Damage parcels, claimants’ names, and amounts of awards are not printed.]

Damage Parcel 462:

I find the land value of this damage parcel to be $156,090. I arrived at this figure by adopting a unit lot value of $15,000 for 8.6 unit lots and by allowing 10% for plottage and 10% for double frontage.

The improvement consists of two buildings, with a substantial amount of machinery and equipment therein. These were used as an ice manufacturing plant by American Ice Company, whose predecessor in title had constructed the buildings for that purpose and had installed the machinery and equipment.

The city argues that the usual appraisal standards do not apply here, because the manufacture of ice is a “ dying industry ”, and the plant is far in excess of what can be usefully employed for that purpose under present conditions. The credible evidence lends no support to this contention, but on the contrary conclusively establishes that at the date of taking this plant was an efficiently functioning unit, usefully employed in the manufacture of ice.

The plant was ideally located to serve the many theatres which use block ice for air-conditioning; the hotels, restaurants and night clubs, and the steamships, all of which furnish a large market for cubed ice and crushed ice. The testimony satisfies me that the 660-ton daily capacity of the plant was appropriate in view of the seasonal nature of the business, since that capacity was exceeded on many days of peak demand. It may be added that even if the plant were not being used to full capacity, but were used solely as a reserve, it would have to be valued as a going plant (Matter of Mayor, 39 App. Div. 589, 590-592 [1st Dept.]).

Since the character of the structures was well adapted to the land, and since earning capacity is not applicable in view of . their specialized nature, the measure of the value which they added to the land is the 1 ‘ testimony of structural value, which is but another name for cost of reproduction, after making proper deduction for wear and tear ” (Matter of City of New York [Blackwell’s Is. Bridge], 198 N. Y. 84, 86-88, 90; Glen v. Mohawk Milk Assn. v. State of New York, 2 A D 2d 95, 96-97 [3d Dept.]).

On this item, I find the testimony of the city’s expert Sharman to be more credible than that of the claimant’s expert Kennedy. Accordingly, I find the replacement value of the [193] buildings to be $786,286; the depreciation to be $373,486; and the sound value on date of taking to be $412,800.

Sharman’s allowance of 47%% for depreciation, based on the 38-year age and an anticipated 80-year life for the buildings, is more realistic than Kennedy’s allowance of 25%. The latter justified his figure by the excellent maintenance. But it is only because of such maintenance that the buildings can be assigned an 80-year life. Even with that maintenance, physical wear and tear, to say nothing of technological changes in construction, would make these buildings unsuitable for such heavy manufacture in 80 years, rather than in the 150 years estimated by Kennedy.

For the reasons discussed above, the city’s claimed deduction of the sound value of the third floor, based on the dying industry ” theory, is rejected.

On the claim for machinery and equipment:

1. Claimant conceded its omission to inventory Items 64, 65, 67 and 68, and numerous small articles in Item 62. I hold that Items 63 and 66 are not properly identified in the inventory. All of these items will therefore be disallowed.

2. Since the date of the inventory, claimant removed the 1200 G-PM pump which is part of Item 23; all except the two wooden cube bins and an ice cake hoisting machine in Item 51; and a turret lathe, a power saw, and two drills in Item 59. All of these removed items will be disregarded.

3. The city concedes the material immovability of the two wooden cube bins in Item 51; and all of Items 3, 4, 5, 12, 32, 34, 37, 45-50, inclusive, and 55-58, inclusive. Therefore claimant’s right to an award for these items is not questioned. -

On reproduction cost of these items, I accept the testimony of claimant’s expert Sears in preference to that of the city’s expert Greene. Sears determined reproduction cost by ascertaining prices in effect on title vesting date from manufacturers and adding thereto the cost of carting, rigging, foundations, insurance and labor of installation. Then he superimposed successive charges of 10% for overhead, 10% for profit and 6% for engineer’s fee.

The 10% for overhead and the 10% for profit will be disallowed except as to items hereafter enumerated. As I understand Sears’ testimony, on these items he used the manufacturer’s quoted price, which would obviously include the manufacturer’s overhead and profit. The owner’s cost of delivery and installation is specifically added by Sears. However, contrary to the city’s contention, I believe that an engineer’s fee of 6% is proper to cover the cost of planning and [194] supervising the installation of such heavy and complicated equipment.

But on Items 4, 46, 48, 49, 50, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 and 61 Sears’ surcharges of 10% for overhead and 10% for profit should be allowed. Here, as I understand Sears’ testimony, he ascertained the unit costs of the piping, etc., rather than the cost of the completed machine as in the other items. Here, too, the 6% engineer’s fee should be allowed.

The detailed valuation of each item based on the foregoing formula is set forth in Schedule A-l.

Sears allowed 35% for depreciation; Greene 50%. As Sears points out, the machinery was frequently overhauled and worn parts replaced so that the efficiency of the machinery was maintained. All the testimony in the case satisfies me that this machinery was efficiently performing its function of producing a large quantity of ice. Under the circumstances, I think that depreciation allowance of 40% is adequate. On this basis, the total value of the items in this category is $485,587. This includes an engineering fee of 6% on certain items hereinafter set forth.

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In re the City of New York, 24 Misc. 2d 190, 201 N.Y.S.2d 443, 1959 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2364 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1959).

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