Judge ups valuation of condemned Brooklyn site

A judge has valued a condemned property at 730-40 Atlantic Avenue, close to where the Barclays Center stands, at approximately $9.2 million.

The property was located in an industrial-use zone until 2001 and later condemned by the Empire State Development Corporation to make room for the Atlantic Yards project.

The property’s current owner, 730 Equity Corp, applied for a rezoning that would allow a hotel to be built on the site.

While earlier valued at around $2 million, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Wayne Saitta reviewed the prior appraisal and concluded earlier this month that the actual value of the property is around $9 million.  

The judge said that Atlantic Avenue, unlike neighboring Pacific Street, “creates a situation that can support a larger development.”

“[E]ven though a 124,000-square-foot hotel is physically possible on the site, the Court must also consider whether such a hotel is financially feasible,” Saitta wrote in the ruling. The ESDC maintained that a hotel in that location would not be viable. [Brooklyn Eagle] — Claire Moses