According to a lawsuit brought by a business association in East Harlem, the city was late in filing an eviction order against property owners who have held out against a development project. In 2010, a state appeals court ruled that the city had the right to buy out the landowners to move the development forward, but according to the owners’ lawsuit, there was a three-year timeframe for filing the eviction order. The city was apparently four months late.
Plans for the development date back to 2008, when 125th St. was rezoned and the area nearby was deemed “blighted.” At that time, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg and now-City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said the site would eventually be a mixed-use development, including retail space, offices, a hotel, a plaza and 600 apartments, all of which would generate 1,500 jobs.
However, the original members of the development partnership are no longer involved, and the property owners and tenants who filed suit against the eviction order say the plan has been replaced or possibly abandoned altogether.
In many cases, landowners can reach a satisfactory buyout deal, but eviction proceedings such as these can put business tenants in an especially difficult position. The tenants in this case include a hair salon, a tire repair stand, an auto repair shop, a dry cleaner and a church.
With any kind of real estate dispute, property owners and tenants may benefit from legal counsel. These cases can involve multiple parties and complex areas of law. If you have questions about your rights as a property owner or a tenant, then do not hesitate to contact a real estate law attorney.
Source: New York Post, “Eviction drama poses thorny issue for ‘progressive’ de Blasio,” Steve Cuozzo, May 5, 2014