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STONY BROOK, NY-Stony Brook University has acquired title to 246 acres of property adjacent to the university, known as Flowerfield, by using the eminent domain process. The university plans to develop the site as the Stony Brook University Research and Development Campus.

After having the site appraised, Stony Brook offered Gyrodyne Co. of America, which had owned the property, $26.3 million on Aug. 1. The offer was not accepted. Lacking a negotiated agreement, the value of the land will be set by the New York State Court of Claims as part of the eminent domain process. Gyrodyne will continue to own 68 acres on the site.

"This condemnation comes three years after the initial announcement by the university's president that there was an interest in acquiring our property," says Stephen V. Maroney, president and CEO of Gyrodyne Co. of America. "Gyrodyne tried in vain to promote a negotiated transaction that would be fair to the company and its shareholders but found university officials to be inflexible." He says the offer of $91,800 per acre, which was presented to the company in a Notice of Advance Payment, is "clearly inadequate and we will seek appropriate compensation in the Court of Claims. I would repeat an earlier characterization of this event as a confiscation of property at a below market price."The Flowerfield property borders Route 25A in the towns of Smithtown and Brookhaven. The land is zoned for light industrial use, so no zoning change is required for the intended research use of the property. The university will honor the leases of the two existing tenants on the property.