Panel calls for caution on eminent domain.

Developer Bruce Ratner was held up as an example to the real estate community at the African-American Real Estate Professionals of New York third annual symposium recently.

The panelists, who discussed issues surrounding the use of eminent domain, singled out Ratner as someone who has gone out of his way to provide fair compensation to people in the Brooklyn community where he is developing a mutil-billion dollar mixed used community that includes a new Nets arena.

According to Michael Rikon, a condemnation lawyer with Goldstein, Goldstein, Rikon and Gottlieb, unlike Ratner, most developers use pressure tactics to force private property owners to give up their land for far less than it is worth.

"The thing that upset people about the Kelo case was that it was for a redevelopment project where there wasn't any blight," Rikon pointed out. "The developers said that it was not producing as much as it should. But no one has a home that would be worth as much as a Costco store. And I've seen what the use of eminent domain does to people. It doesn't give them fair compensation. They lose the opportunity of future appreciation on their homes."

Another panelist, Richard Helman, a professor with the New York University Real Estate Institute, warned that overly enthusiastic use of eminent domain might backfire on the development community.

"I think that many developers were extremely pleased with the Kelo decision, but they better be careful about that," he said. "Many private property groups have been challenging it. Bills are being introduced that would curtail the use of eminent domain. You shouldn't push too fast, or too hard."

The participants also discussed the possible effect the use of eminent domain might have on downtown Brooklyn, where New York City Planning Department is currently getting ready for a fully-fledged revitalization effort.

According to Regina Meyer, who serves as a director with the Department, the City would like to remake the area into a vibrant mixed-use community that would offer businesses an alternative to the Jersey City office market.

"We proposed new zoning, new public space, new parking and changes to the streetscape as well," Meyer said.

"Now that the plan has been approved by the City Council, we are working with the Economic Development Corporation. They will be putting out Requests for Proposals soon."

Meyer promised, however, that the Planning Department will work hard to provide affordable housing options to those displaced by the redevelopment efforts. "I don't think it can reach everyone, but we're trying to do it with every available site," she said.

"We have a tremendous commitment to increasing affordable housing."

At the same time, if the City needs to evict people, it will have full power to do so. According to Rikon, eminent domain law has always been used freely by both New York City and New York State.

"The City of New York is probably the largest condemning agency in the United States," he pointed out. "It's most often exercised by the Department of Transportation, but it can be used by almost every political body that you can think of."