Gyrodyne fights to keep $100M for its land

The state is not entitled to a "do-over" in an eminent domain case that last year awarded $100 million to the Gyrodyne Co. of America, the company argued in a brief on Thursday.

"Unwilling to pay the fair price for land it took over five years ago, the state seeks a new trial from this court," Gyrodyne's lawyers said in the brief filed in state appellate court in Brooklyn. "Incredibly, the state is seeking a 'do-over.' "

In 2005, the state seized 245 acres of land to build a research and development park, anchored by the Stony Brook Center of Excellence in Wireless and Informational Technology after its owner, Gyrodyne, refused to sell. The state paid $26 million, which Gyrodyne claimed, and a court last year ruled, was not enough. The court accepted Gyrodyne's appraisal of the property that was based on the best and highest use of the land, which the company said was a residential development and golf course.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman argued in his appeal filing that the company's residential development plan didn't adequately factor the possibility that it wouldn't get the zoning changes it would have needed.

Gyrodyne's lawyers criticized the state's request for a new trial, characterizing it as a quest to ask questions "it wishes it had asked at trial" to "do a better job next time around."

Schneiderman's office declined to comment Friday about the case. The state has until later this month to file a response and oral arguments could be scheduled after that, though it could be months before the case goes to court.

The Center of Excellence was intended to be an anchor for a tech campus that would have 10 buildings. Today two buildings are in use on the site and a third is nearly complete.