National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. 10,178 Square Feet of Land More or Less

781 F. Supp. 234, 1991 WL 276665
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedDecember 20, 1991
DocketNo. 89 Civ. 2173 (RPP)
StatusPublished

This text of 781 F. Supp. 234 (National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. 10,178 Square Feet of Land More or Less) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. 10,178 Square Feet of Land More or Less, 781 F. Supp. 234, 1991 WL 276665 (S.D.N.Y. 1991).

Opinion

AMENDED REVISED FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

ROBERT P. PATTERSON, Jr., District Judge.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

The property taken by plaintiff, National Railroad Passenger- Corporation (“Amtrak”), in this condemnation action consists of a lot containing 10,178 square feet, a one-story diner building containing many fixtures, a paved lot for parking and a parking attendant’s booth. It is located at 365-369 Ninth Avenue on the corner of Ninth Avenue and West 31st Street, New York, New York. It is a corner lot with 74.25 feet accessible frontage on Ninth Avenue and 125 feet accessible frontage on the south side of West 31st Street, west of Ninth Avenue. The lot is zoned M 1-5, which permits development by a commercial or manufacturing building with 50,890 square feet of floor area.

The property is located near the General Post Office Building, Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden. The Javits Convention Center is several blocks to the north and west, near the Hudson River.

The appraisers for Amtrak and the owners each have valued the parcel finding that its highest and best use is not as a parking lot and diner, but for commercial development. As a consequence, from the outset of this proceeding, it was clear that neither appraiser of the fee would place a value on the diner building.

At the time of taking, March 31, 1989, the parcel was leased by its owners, the defendant Trustees of the Estate of Henry M. Weitzner (the “Trustees”), pursuant to a twenty-year renewal lease which was to expire on December 31, 1994. The lease had been assigned to Demjo Diner, Inc. (“Demjo”) by the prior lessee who had built a diner on the leased land in 1955 and who had sold it to Demjo on July 1,1982, pursuant to a separate bill of sale (Demjo Exh. B) for $380,000 covering the diner and all other chattels, fixtures and equipment. In connection with the purchase, Demjo received an assignment of lease (Demjo Exh. B) from Dannan Restaurant & Bar, Inc. (“Dannan”) and gave a chattel mortgage (Demjo Exh. C) to Dannan for $300,000. U.C.C.-3s (Demjo Exh. E) were duly filed.

In an earlier opinion dated February 6, 1991,1991 WL 17852, this Court found that Demjo was entitled to compensation for the value of the diner because, under New York condemnation law, it should be treated as a fixture. Accordingly, Demjo and Amtrak each prepared separate appraisals of the diner building and its contents and offered the testimony of their appraisers on each of those subjects at time of trial.

A trial without a jury took place on May 20, 21, 30, 31 and June 13, 14 and 17, 1991. Post trial briefs were filed by the parties during July 1991.

The parties have stipulated that interest on any judgment shall be paid at the rate of 7.5% per annum.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The Fee

Amtrak’s appraiser, Sheldon Gottlieb of Jerome Haims Realty, Inc., valued the subject land at $2,500,000 as of the date of taking, whereas the owner’s appraiser, Robert Von Ancken of William A. White/ Grubb & Ellis, Inc., valued the property at [236]*236$3,360,000. Both appraisers agreed that the highest and best use of the property was commercial use consistent with the parcel’s existing M 1-5 zoning, which permits a Floor Area Ratio (“FAR”) of 5-0 for a commercial building, or 50,890 FAR square feet of commercial space. Both calculated their appraisal values by utilizing prices obtained per FAR square foot for comparable properties sold prior to the time of taking and made adjustments for location, corner, shape, access, size, zoning, and time of purchase to equate those sales as vacant land with the appraised property at time of taking. Both appraisers used the market approach, basing their conclusions on comparable sales of property in the area. Mr. Gottlieb used five comparable sales, all of which were also included by Mr. Von Ancken in his eleven comparable sales (two of Mr. Von Ancken’s sales were combined and utilized by Mr. Gottlieb as an “assemblage” purchase). Mr. Von Ancken used one additional sale for computing “time of purchase” adjustments, but that sale was not included in his sales grid for estimating a value. Mr. Gottlieb did not use five of Mr. Von Ancken’s sales deeming them too close to, and too affected by the erection of, the Convention Center. After his adjustments Mr. Von Ancken found that his eleven sales had an average price of $76.70 per FAR square foot and a median price of $61.33 per FAR square foot. He used a value of $66.00 per FAR square foot to reach his valuation of $3,360,000 for the parcel.

Mr. Gottlieb reached his contrary conclusion of $50 per FAR square foot for the parcel based on his five comparable sales by relying principally on two sales, first, a February 1988 sale at 434-440 West 35th Street and Dyer Avenue (Gottlieb Sale 3), and, second, a December 1986 sale at 359-363 Ninth Avenue (Gottlieb Sale 5). Of Mr. Gottlieb’s five comparable sales, these two sales have the lowest price FAR and the lowest price after his adjustments. As regards Gottlieb Sale 3, Dyer Avenue is not an ordinary thoroughfare, but a heavily trafficked access road to the Lincoln Tunnel and, therefore, not available for commercial development on that frontage. Thus, Gottlieb Sale 3 is not a true equivalent corner lot sale and must be adjusted substantially in a comparative analysis. As the Trustees point out, the purchasers did not consider the lot’s best use to be commercial since it was in fact developed as a residential site, not as a commercial building. For a residential building the purchasers paid $45.38 per FAR square foot, prior to adjustments for time of purchase, location, etc., due to the residential zoning regulations of 4.8 FAR. Mr. Gottlieb, on the other hand, treated the building’s highest and best use as commercial development, using 6 FAR for a price of $36.31 per FAR square foot, prior to adjustments for time of purchase and location, but not for being a non-corner lot without avenue frontage.

Mr. Gottlieb also relied heavily on the sale (Gottlieb Sale 5) of 359-363 Ninth Avenue at West 30th Street, a parcel adjacent to the instant property. This property also suffers from West 30th Street’s dedication as an access to Lincoln Tunnel, albeit not to the extent that the Dyer property suffers. Good truck access to any commercial or manufacturing property in this area is important. The West 30th Street frontage of Sale 5 has no sidewalk cuts and is not viable for such usage. Furthermore, although Gottlieb Sale 5 is only 60% of the size of subject property, Mr. Gottlieb made no adjustment for size in arriving at his adjusted unit valuations. The Court accepts Mr. Von Ancken’s testimony that adjustments should be made for plottage or size of parcels in the area of Ninth Avenue and 31st Street, New York City. The Trustees point out that the sale occurred in December of 1986 immediately before the federal capital gains tax was raised and that the price received may have been less than full price due to the seller’s desire to avoid the increase in capital gains taxes. Mr. Gottlieb’s appraisal in relying on these two sales does not make sufficient adjustments for the aforementioned considerations.

Similarly, Mr. Von Ancken, by utilizing more sales closer to the Javits Convention Center than to the subject property, in [237]*237spite of his adjustments for location, appears to have been unduly influenced in his appraisal by Javits Convention Center values. Mr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

City of New York v. Sage
239 U.S. 57 (Supreme Court, 1915)
Olson v. United States
292 U.S. 246 (Supreme Court, 1934)
Upper Allegheny Sand & Gravel Co. v. United States
404 U.S. 850 (Supreme Court, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
781 F. Supp. 234, 1991 WL 276665, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-railroad-passenger-corp-v-10178-square-feet-of-land-more-or-nysd-1991.