Owners of M1-5 properties claimed their land should be valued as if zoned C6-4. The City acquired properties through eminent domain for the Hudson Yards Rezoning and Development Program. The project aimed to develop 38 blocks in Manhattan’s Far West Side and extend the No. 7 subway line south-westward from Times Square to Eleventh Avenue and West 34th Street. 2 CityLand 4 (Feb. 15, 2005). The affected owners’ properties were primarily located on 34th and 35th Streets between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues and were zoned M1-5 prior to the rezoning. The plan rezoned portions of some properties to C6-4, while the rest remained M1-5.

The property owners sought compensation for the takings. Prior to the parties submitting appraisal reports, the owners argued that they were entitled to have all the seized M1-5 properties valued as if they had been rezoned C6-4. For certain M1-5 lots, the owners claimed the City did not rezone these properties to the more valuable C6-4 zoning because the City wanted to take the property at an unfairly low price. The owner also claimed that these M1-5 properties would have been rezoned to C6-4, or otherwise would have received variances in the near future, even if the City’s project had not existed. For other lots that were partially zoned M1-5 and partially zoned C6-4, the owners argued that the seized M1-5 portions should have been valued as C6-4, based on the partial C6-4 zoning that applied to the other portion of each lot. Lastly, Mercedes-Benz, which owned property located on Eleventh Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets, also sought a C6-4 valuation.  (read more…)