In re City of New York

Proskauer, J.:

The claimant owns the unimproved block bounded by Lexington and Fourth avenues and Thirty-second and Thirty-third streets. A twenty-foot strip on the Fourth avenue front is being taken by the city for the purpose of widening that thoroughfare.

The city urges that I fix compensation therefor by estimating the value of the entire square block, then the value of the portion which would remain after the taking, and consider the difference as the value of the property taken. This theory, as stated, would obviously dilute the worth of the more valuable Fourth avenue front by averaging…