Rossi v. State

31 Misc. 2d 205, 223 N.Y.S.2d 139, 1961 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1837
CourtNew York Court of Claims
DecidedDecember 27, 1961
DocketClaim No. 36431; Claim No. 36983
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 31 Misc. 2d 205 (Rossi v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rossi v. State, 31 Misc. 2d 205, 223 N.Y.S.2d 139, 1961 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1837 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1961).

Opinion

Feed A. Young, J.

On August 19,1958 the State of New York for highway purposes, pursuant to Highway Law (art. XII-B), appropriated in fee 0.273 acres, as well as a temporary easement consisting of 0.163± acres, from the lands owned by claimants Michael Eossi, Dominick Eossi, Alphonso Eossi, George Eossi and William Eossi, located in the City of Eome, New York, by filing East Whitesboro Street Arterial Maps No. 38 and 55, Parcels 42 and 60, with a description of such property, in the County Clerk’s office, Oneida County.

The court adopts the map and description of the appropriated property shown and set forth on such map and reference is made thereto for such description without repetition thereof.

The claim of Michael Eossi, Dominick Eossi, Alphonso Eossi, George Eossi and William Eossi was filed in the office of the Clerk of the Court of Claims on March 5, 1959 and served upon the Attorney-General on October 8, 1959. The claim of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company for the value of a leasehold in the premises appropriated and for the value of fixtures located therein, was filed in the office of the Clerk of the Court of Claims on August 31, 1959 and served upon the Attorney-General on September 1,1959.

The claims have not been assigned.

The appropriated parcel, approximately 11,092 square feet in area, was part of a large odd-shaped tract comprising some 46,553 square feet, fronting 181 feet on Black Eiver Boulevard, 89.79 feet on Bouck Street, and 85 feet on Whitesboro Street, in the City of Eome, New York.

At the time of the appropriation the subject property was improved by a modern one-story concrete building with a brick front and built-up roof, approximately 14,672 square feet in area with a basement 1,062 square feet in extent. This structure, which was located within the appropriated area, was constructed in 1942 for use as a supermarket, and, at the time of the appropriation, was leased to the claimant, Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, hereinafter referred to as the A & P.

Certain requests to find submitted by the claimants, which we have adopted, contain a detailed description of this structure so that further description herein would be repetitious. We find it only necessary to note that the building was maintained in good physical condition and suffered no functional or economical depreciation up to and including August 19, 1958.

Approximately 17,800 square feet of the Eossis ’ premises was improved as a blacktopped paved parking area. In addition thereto a corporation controlled by these claimants had leased an additional 13,500 square feet from the New York Central [207]*207Railroad to provide additional parking facilities for the A & P. The corporation was dissolved in 1957.

A 300-foot railroad siding was also located on the premises, as well as a 400-foot steel pipe fence along the New York Central right of way.

At the time of the appropriation the claimants’ premises was leased to the A & P at a rental of $1,295 per month; termination date was January 31,1960. However, the lessee had the further right to renew the said lease for a term of three years at a rental of $1,395 per month.

The A & P further paid the claimants an additional $40 per month rent for the use of the afore-mentioned 13,500 square feet of land for parking area, leased to the Rossis by the New York Central Railroad Company. We have not considered this leased area.

The real estate experts called by the parties are in agreement that the best available use for the subject property, at the time of the appropriation, was as a supermarket. It was favorably located for such a business enterprise, and adequate parking space, so necessary for such operation, was available. However, the defendants’ expert separated the parking area from the improved area in making his appraisal. The experts were also in agreement that after the appropriation the remaining property was suitable only as parking space for an adjacent bowling alley, and that the construction of the arterial route impaired the access to the property to such an extent that any other use of the property was not feasible.

Despite their agreement on the best available use of the subject property before and after the appropriation, the experts who testified on behalf of the Rossis and the State of New York differed greatly in their appraisal of the damage sustained by these claimants as a result of the appropriation of their property. This latter difference is more noteworthy since all of the experts used practically the same methods in appraising the property and in verifying such appraisal. Both parties submitted lists of real estate transactions in the vicinity of the subject property, which they considered comparable. However, the comparability claimed was only for land value; neither party could produce any comparable sale of a supermarket in the area. Both the Rossis and the State called builders who testified to the reproduction cost of the building.

The engineer who designed and supervised the construction of the building, testifying for the Rossi claimants, stated in his opinion the reproduction cost of the structure as of the date of the appropriation would be $13 per square foot for the first [208]*208floor, $8.49 per square foot for the basement. This figure included 7,300 square feet of blacktop placed in 1942, but did not include the railroad siding of the additional 10,000 square feet of blacktop placed in 1950.

The building expert testifying for the defendant never saw the building but merely studied plans. This gentleman valued the structure at $10,526 per square foot and the basement at $7 per square foot. This witness, who did not include the parking lot paving or the railroad siding, arrived at his appraisal by taking the original cost and adding thereto his opinion of the increase in such costs since 1942.

The real estate experts also gave their opinions of the reproduction cost.

The first expert for the claimants testified to a replacement cost of $14 per square foot, including all the blacktop and fencing. This witness did not examine the structure before it was demolished. His personal knowledge was based upon occasional visits to the store when it was in operation. Moreover he did not assign a value to the basement area. To arrive at the market value of the building this expert depreciated the reproduction cost by 20%.

The other two experts called by the Bossi claimants had actually examined the building to make their appraisal. Both allowed a reproduction cost of $12 per square foot. Only one of them allowed an additional $6 per square foot for the basement area. These experts allowed a depreciation of 10% and 20% respectively.

The State’s real estate expert gave a figure of $10.50 per square foot and also disregarded the basement. He also depreciated the value of the building by 40%. This high depreciation factor is not supported by the record and represents the bald opinion of this expert.

As we have indicated {supra), the experts in making their appraisals gave their opinions of the value of the land in addition to their valuations of the buildings. Two of the claimants ’ experts placed a value of $4 per square foot upon all of the subject land prior to the appropriation. The third stated that $3.91 per square foot was, in his opinion, the fair market value of the land.

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Related

Cooney Brothers, Inc. v. State
27 A.D.2d 93 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1966)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
31 Misc. 2d 205, 223 N.Y.S.2d 139, 1961 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1837, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rossi-v-state-nyclaimsct-1961.