In re the City of New York

Claimant, Franklin Record Center, owner of a Manhattan loft building purchased for $340,000 and thereafter appropriated for a public purpose, elected to appeal from a Special Term award of $635,000, a sum fixed after comparison with the market value of other buildings of similar size, structure and location. On review, a sharply divided Appellate Division was persuaded to render a decision which, when applied on remand, enlarged the award to $1,100,000. This it accomplished by placing a compensable value on the owner’s exploitation of what, in the majority’s words, is describable either as a…