Suits & Deals - $5.15M Condemnation Verdict

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Condemnation Settlement of $5.15M
Paves Way for New School in Newark

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New Jersey Law Journal, December 27, 2004

New Jersey School Construction Co. v. Ruggiero Seafood Co.: The New Jersey School Construction Co., a state fund that finances school development in urban districts under Abbott v. Burke, will pay $5.15 million for a Newark seafood plant and build an elementary school. The deal closed on Nov. 23.

The transaction keeps a going concern in Newark, funds the removal of the plant — and its smell — from a growing residential enclave in Newark’s Ironbound district and provides a central location for a needed school, says the state’s counsel, John Klock of Newark’s Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione.

The state moved to condemn the property in Essex County Superior Court and initially offered $3.37 million, the appraised value of the building at 262 Pennington St. The owner, Ruggiero Seafood Co., is the largest calamari processing plant in the country, according to Ruggiero’s lawyer, William Ward of Florham Park’s Carlin & Ward.

Ward says the company sought $6 million, its estimate of the cost of the value of the property plus relocation of equipment to a new site in Newark.

Under the settlement, the state will hold back $420,000 until the company remediates any environmental problems at the site, Klock says.

Klock’s colleague, Shepard Federgreen, worked on the case, as did Ward’s colleague, James Turteltaub.

— By Henry Gottlieb

Vol. CLXXVIII – No. 13 – Index 1181
December 27, 2004

This article is reprinted with permission from the DECEMBER 27, 2004 issue of the New Jersey Law Journal. ©2004 ALM Properties, Inc. Further duplication without permission is prohibited. All rights reserved.

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