In re the City of New York

Memorandum. The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed and the decree of Special Term reinstated. The trial court granted a condemnation award which exceeded the *1058combined assessed valuation of the condemned land and its improvements. However, the Appellate Division, determining that the portion of the award attributable to land alone was $2,100 less than the land’s assessed valuation, increased the total award by the amount of that deficiency. This adjustment, based solely on a difference between the award and the assessed valuation, was improper. The "ultimate and basic” test for…