(To read more on the industrial market, click here.)
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.
The first building to be completed would be the approximately 123,000-sf Center for Excellence in Wireless Information Technology, which would be finished in 2008. Following that construction, the master plan calls for nine additional research and development buildings that would be constructed over a 10-year period. The total for the project site would be approximately 830,000 sf. Stony Brook also plans to construct a dedicated roadway providing vehicular access to the campus via three existing entrances. Construction and equipment is being funded by a $50-million grant from New York State's Centers of Excellence program. Stony Brook anticipates that as many as 1,900 researchers and employees will work at the Research and Development Campus within 10 years. The building will include 22 laboratories. . For previous coverage, click here.
The university also acquired 81 acres at Southampton College in a $35-million deal. It plans to develop a campus there focusing on academic programs related to the environment and sustainability beginning next September.
For information on eminent domain legislation on the federal level, click here. To read about eminent domain legislation in Pennsylvania, click here .
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