Selig v. State

20 Misc. 2d 33, 194 N.Y.S.2d 833, 1959 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2484
CourtNew York Court of Claims
DecidedDecember 4, 1959
DocketClaim No. 34263
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 20 Misc. 2d 33 (Selig 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
Selig v. State, 20 Misc. 2d 33, 194 N.Y.S.2d 833, 1959 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2484 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1959).

Opinion

Alexander Del Giorno, J.

This is a claim for damages to real property owned by the claimant caused by the appropriation by the State and the Thruway Authority of Central Park Avenue in the City of Yonkers, and the alleged change of grade of Central Park Avenue northerly from the southerly city line of the City of Yonkers, New York, to the Cross-County Parkway in the City of Yonkers and the construction therein and thereon of a section of the Thruway. The construction was begun on July 12, 1954, completed on February 18, 1957 and accepted by the Thruway Authority on March 11, 1957. The claim was filed on November 20, 1956 and has not been assigned.

Claimant’s property is situated on the west side of Central Park Avenue, consisting of about 8 acres of ground on which there are erected on the Central Park Avenue frontage a taxpayer containing four stores; to the southwest there is a group of garage buildings for housing some 70 automobiles and on the remaining property there are 10 buildings containing 174 apartments, erected about 1940, and which must be assumed were erected in conformity with the building regulations of the City of Yonkers. As a matter of fact, the State left the grade of Central Park Avenue intact except for the Thruwav construction.

Central Park Avenue was established from Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, to the then Village of White Plains by chapter 400 of the Laws of 1867, by which the Commissioners were given power to extend, lay out, widen and grade it.

Before the commencement of the Thruway construction, therefore, Central Park Avenue had been established as a public street 100 feet wide, and a main artery of travel from New York City through Westchester County terminating in the City of White Plains.

The State contends that the claimant has not proven that there was an established grade for Central Park Avenue. The court determines that such grade had been established pursuant to chapter 400 of the Laws of 1867, and that even if not so established it had been established by user, acquiescence or recognition without any formal ordinance on the part of the City of Yonkers. (Cook v. State of New York, 176 Misc. 947, affd. 267 App. Div. 847.) Having himself travelled on Central Park Avenue for some 30 years, the court knows that its grade remained intact during that period.

[35]*35At the time of the Thruway construction, in July, 1954, the stores of the taxpayer were all rented, three at a monthly rent and the fourth being used as an office for the development. During the time of construction, one store was vacated in October, 1955, and remained so until August, 1957; the two other stores asked for and received reductions in rent, one of them going out of business in September, 1956, and remaining vacant until August, 1957.

The Thruway is laid out in and over Central Park Avenue from the northerly city line of New York to Yonkers Avenue on the north; on the east and west sides one-way service roads were provided, the one in front of claimant’s property becoming known as Central Park Avenue South, and running one way south, and the one on the easterly side becoming Central Park Avenue North, and running one way north. Claimant’s property is located about halfway between Yonkers Avenue and McLean Avenue, a distance of some 1.22 miles. In the center of Central Park Avenue, where the Thruway exists, starting a short distance south of McLean Avenue, which is the second street north of the New York City line, the center was depressed, so as it passed under McLean Avenue it was 20 feet below McLean Avenue. After so passing under McLean Avenue, the Thruway takes a pitch upward and as it so proceeds upward, it scales 6 feet and 6 inches to the center line of the Thruway at point C-47 of the maps to 11 feet at point C-49, between which points it was conceded claimant’s property lies. Claimant’s expert testified that Central Park Avenue South remained at grade and then the Thruway was superimposed on Central Park Avenue to a height of 6 feet and 6 inches at the first point and at the second point to a height of 11 feet. The protecting side wall of the Thruway in front of the property is actually 9 and one-half feet at point C-47 and 14 feet at C-49 above the grade of Central Park Avenue South.

After reaching the 11-foot point in front of claimant’s property, there was a downward pitch in the roadbed of the Thruway resulting in the Thruway passing under Yonkers Avenue to a depth of 18 feet.

Claimant maintains that Central Park Avenue as it previously existed, no longer existed, and that the part of Central Park Avenue in which the Thruway lies now interferes substantially with access to claimant’s property, in that (1) in order to get in or out of claimant’s property, one must detour either at McLean Avenue or Yonkers Avenue; (2) to get directly across Central Park Avenue, the same detour must be followed, and (3) bus connections are only one way, and transfers on buses [36]*36can only be effected some eight blocks away. Claimant contends also that the alleged change of the grade and interferences with ingress, egress, access, light and air provide a basis for her claim. Claimant makes no claim that any portion of her property was appropriated by the State in connection with the construction of the Thruway.

The claimant’s witness, Mr. Aries, a real estate broker, testified he valued the land in the business zone (approximately 155 foot frontage by 100 foot depth) before the construction at $200 a front foot, and the remainder at $25,000 per acre, or a total of $236,500. After completion of the Thruway, he set a valuation of $171,500 for the entire business area, claiming that its commercial value was destroyed. He stated that the depreciation replacement cost in July, 1954 of the taxpayer was $36,000; that after March, 1957 its commercial use was destroyed, therefore ascribing to it a land value only of $20,000 per acre. He based the damage sustained by claimant on the interference with accessibility to claimant’s property, whether by bus or automobile.

At the close of claimant’s case, the parties agreed that no claim lies as to grade of Central Park Avenue North. The only claim in issue is for damage caused by the change upon Central Park Avenue wrought by the Thruway construction.

Mr. Keller, the State’s expert real estate appraiser, placed a valuation on the entire property before the construction at a total of $920,000, comprised of $225,000 for the land area included in the apartment house and the business area, and $695,000 for building improvements. The value of the property after the Thruway construction he placed at the total of $880,000, giving a valuation of $205,000 for the land and $675,000 for the buildings. He did not set a definite figure on the value of the taxpayer, including it in his computation of the loss of $40,000. He stated that damage is confined only to the business; that the apartment rental remains the same, not having been affected, particularly because the rents were now frozen. While he agrees that the traffic condition has made a radical change, he states that at $25 per room (the then rental) any vacant apartment would obtain immediate rental. He stated that the highest and best use is its present use, and if vacant would be even greater because rents would not be subject to control.

Both appraisers stressed the fact that the claimant’s holding was affected adversely by interference with accessibility, Mr. Keller holding that the property was not affected additionally by the change of grade and Mr. Aries stating that it was.

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Related

Lohmann v. Village of Mohawk
48 Misc. 2d 372 (New York Supreme Court, 1965)
Selig v. State
12 A.D.2d 688 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1960)

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Bluebook (online)
20 Misc. 2d 33, 194 N.Y.S.2d 833, 1959 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2484, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/selig-v-state-nyclaimsct-1959.