Yonkers city officials said they want to treat fairly those downtown owners who stand to have their properties condemned to make way for a public riverwalk and a private developer”™s planned River Park Center mixed-use project.
An attorney representing several affected business owners and tenants in the redevelopment area, however, said recent property appraisals done for the New Main Street Development Corp. as part of the eminent domain process look “extremely low,” suggesting a legal battle looms in Yonkers.
The Yonkers Industrial Development Agency this month took another step toward using its power of eminent domain to acquire 13 properties on approximately three acres in the downtown Chicken Island area on behalf of the New Main Street Development Corp., a 3-year-old development arm of the city that would pay for the purchases with a $24 million state grant. The grant was awarded for the city”™s project to daylight or uncover the Saw Mill River at River Park Center and Larkin Plaza and build a tourism-boosting riverwalk, a public use and benefit that allows the IDA to condemn properties for the project. IDA officials also noted the acquisitions will clear the way for high-rise residential construction, including some affordable housing units, by Struever Fidelco Cappelli L.L.C. (SFC).
“We got a lousy appraisal,” said Antone Daoud, owner of Star Auto Service Inc., a Sunoco service station and auto repair garage on Elm Street slated for condemnation. The recent third-party appraisal for the city was slightly more than one-third of his property”™s value when appraised by SFC about four years ago. Daoud said it was about $700,000 less than the minimum purchase price he would have to pay for another service station in the area.
“We”™re not very happy at all,” Daoud said. “It looks like they”™re trying to take it for free.”
The city administration”™s spokesman, David Simpson, disagreed. He said New Main Street Development Corp. and the IDA have shared appraisals with owners “and usually that”™s not the case.” He said initial appraisals and offers by SFC “were higher than they should have been” to reflect fair market value.
Yonkers Mayor Philip Amicone “has decided to take extra steps in this process to make sure that we treat every property owner fairly from start to finish,” Simpson said. He said owners will receive offers on their properties before the IDA takes the final step and petitions the court to condemn the parcels.
Michael Rikon, a leading eminent domain attorney and partner at Goldstein, Rikon & Rikon P.C. in Manhattan, said he represents about 10 real estate owners and commercial tenants in the Yonkers redevelopment area, including Daoud. Business tenants in a condemnation proceeding can file trade fixture claims to recover the cost of improvements they made to their business space for the term of their lease, he said. Owners can file court claims for higher payments than the condemnation price.
Regarding the new appraisals received by Daoud and other owners, “That money looks extremely low,” Rikon said.
