Archive | Condemnation

Entrepreneurial Profit

In valuing any property in the course of development, one must add entrepreneurial profit.  The cost approach is used and entrepreneurial incentive is an important element of this valuation method.  It is the incentive an investor has for coordinating the construction of a new project.  Few investors would accept less than an amount necessary to account for the trouble they spent coordinating the construction of a new building. The Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal defines entrepreneurial profit as (1) a market-derived figure that represents the amount an entrepreneur receives for… read more

Posted in Appraisal, Condemnation, Entrepreneurial Profit, Valuation of Property in Course of Development
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Property in the Course of Development

Since the urban real property market is very dynamic, one finds many properties in the process of being developed or renovated on condemnation. Frequently an owner will be just about to begin efforts to build or in the process of same when a condemnor swoops in to take the parcel. The law is clear that property taken whilst in the process of development, the owner is entitled to recover for the added value of the owner’s efforts.  We call this “entrepreneurial profit.” As New York’s Appellate Division, Second Department stated… read more

Posted in Condemnation, Development, Entrepreneurial, Profit, Valuation
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The Public Trust Doctrine in New York. A Park Is Not A Park Unless It’s Not.

  In 2015, New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, decided Matter of Glick v Harvey.[1]  The appeals court affirmed the reversal of a lower court order which enjoined New York University from beginning any construction in connection with its expansion project that would result in any alienation of three parcels of land found by the Court to be public parkland, unless and until the State Legislature authorizes the alienation of any parkland to be impacted by the project.  The decision itself provides very little factual information.  According to… read more

Posted in Condemnation, Parkland, Public Trust Doctrine, Uncategorized
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Valuing the Special Purpose Property

          On occasion, one will encounter a property which is so unusual that it cannot be valued by the comparable sales (or market data approach) or by capitalization of income.  When that happens, the cost approach will be utilized.           In the cost approach, an appraiser values the property premised on the value of the land and then adds what it would cost to build a new structure.  The value is based on reproduction costs less observed depreciation.  All increment costs are also considered and added to the value.  The… read more

Posted in Condemnation, Cost Approach, Special Purpose
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Condemnation to Build Slave Quarters

Gwinnett County, located in the North Central portion of Georgia and part of the metropolitan area of Atlanta, has backed down from the proposed condemnation of the “Promised Land” from a Black family. The Promised Land community was a plantation with about two dozen slaves prior to the Civil War. The land is owned by the descendants of freed slaves who once worked on a plantation on the same property. It was then owned by Thomas Maguire. “During the Civil War, Sherman’s troops burned this whole town, but he didn’t… read more

Posted in Black Ownership, Condemnation, Historical Park
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