Opinion ID: 200835
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Parcel 6C

Text: 12 Both experts testified that the highest and best use of 6C was for apartments, offices, or retail, and that there would be demand for these uses in the future. In addition, Alex Krieger, a Harvard professor of urban planning called by Amtrak as an expert testified that based on his experience with the Capital Center Commission, he agreed that this was the best and highest use for the property. Based on this agreed-upon highest and best use for 6C, the district court awarded damages for the permanent taking of 6C and severance damages to 6C during the temporary taking of 6B. 13 Amtrak contends that because of use restrictions imposed by the EDC in the deed to CPI, 6C had no permissible use until 2017. The deed contains a restrictive covenant which provides that the parcel may be used only for, or in connection with, the construction and operation of a parking garage containing not less than 700 parking spaces, all or a portion of which will be located over all or a portion of the Railroad Corridor.... In addition, Amtrak points to Capital Center Commission regulations governing the parcels, which specifically forbid the construction of a parking garage on 6C, see CCC Regulations, § 5.6.2, and establish that Parcel 6C shall not be developed unless Parcel 6B is developed. Id. at § 5.6.9. Hence, Amtrak argues, the parcel has no permissible use and that any damages awarded with respect to 6C were erroneous. 14 The July 2, 1990, deed from the Rhode Island EDC envisions two distinct development alternatives for Parcels 6B and 6C: 15 [N]otwithstanding anything to the contrary in this paragraph, if Grantee (a) shall construct an alternate parking garage containing no less than 700 spaces on Parcel 6, as shown on the Capital Center Plan...., and (b) shall use the Premises in conjunction with the Air Rights, Grantee shall have the right to use the premises for any other lawful use or purpose. 16 CPI either could have developed 6B and 6C together as a parking facility or could have developed them together for any lawful use so long as it provided seven hundred parking spaces on Parcel 6A. Amtrak's rejoinder that CPI failed to prove that it had actual plans to build the parking lot on 6A is irrelevant. See 125.07 Acres of Land, 667 F.2d at 249 (landowner's subjective intended use is irrelevant to highest and best use determination; moreover, just compensation includes any additional market value [the property] may command because of the prospects for developing it to the `highest and best use' for which it is suitable). It does not matter whether CPI had blueprints ready or otherwise knew how it intended to develop 6C and the Air Rights. Nor did the highest and best use adopted by the district court amount to mere speculation, Tenn. Gas Pipeline Co. v. 104 Acres of Land More or Less, in Providence County of State of R.I., 780 F.Supp. 82, 86 (D.R.I.1991), as experts for both parties agreed that a mixed use development on the parcels was reasonably definite in the future. 17 Moreover, Amtrak's own appraisal of 6C does not reduce the value of 6C on account of the restrictive covenant contained in the 1990 deed. Coyle mentions the deed restriction in neither of his reports and never figured the restriction into his calculations of fair market value. As Amtrak's own expert, he apparently felt that the restriction had no meaningful impact on 6C's value, which is consistent with eminent domain principles. See 4 Sackman, Nichols on Eminent Domain, § 12C.02 at 12C-57 (where condemnation proceedings are in rem, a just compensation award is based on the value of the unrestricted fee). Instead, the record amply shows that both experts anticipated a coordinated development involving 6A, 6B, and 6C with a parking garage being built on 6A. 18 Amtrak also points to the Capital Center Commission regulations, which specifically forbid the construction of a parking garage on 6C. See CCC Regulations, § 5.6.2. They argue that in tandem with the deed, the lot is then reduced to no permissible use. See Ocean Rd. Partners v. State, 670 A.2d 246, 250 (R.I.1996) (a trial judge may consider the value of a property for a use not permitted by existing land regulations only when a claimant has met its burden of demonstrating it is reasonably probable that the proscribed use will be allowed in the near future); Palazzi v. State, 113 R.I. 218, 319 A.2d 658, 661-62 (1974) (same). Amtrak claims that CPI failed to demonstrate a reasonable probability that the Capital Center Commission will liberalize its regulations governing the use of 6C. 19 Amtrak's reliance on these regulations again misses the fact that the deed allows 6B and 6C to be developed together for any lawful use so long as seven hundred parking spaces are provided on 6A. Indeed, the Capital Center Commission regulations list parking as among 6A's preferred uses. CCC Regulations, § 5.6.2. 20 Amtrak also challenges whether CPI's purported highest and best use for the parcel was economically feasible. Specifically, Amtrak contends that attempts at building a parking garage on 6C have been prohibitively expensive and that the highest and best use adopted by the district court would run into the same problem. Even if in the past it was not feasible to build a parking garage either on 6B or 6C, this fact, as the district court stated, is a red herring having nothing to do with determining the value of the parcels. Indeed, Coyle concluded that constructing a parking garage on 6C or 6B would not be financially feasible. That is exactly why he did not rely on Amtrak's cost estimate of building a parking garage on 6C. Instead, he appraised the value of 6C and the Air Rights based on the feasibility of building apartments, offices, and retail operations sometime in the future if 6A was developed for parking. 21 As both experts agreed that 6C could only be developed in tandem with 6B, the district court's finding of severance damages to 6C during the period of the temporary taking of the Air Rights is also well supported by the record. A property owner is entitled to recover severance damages for any damage to adjacent properties caused by a taking. See Baetjer v. United States, 143 F.2d 391, 395 (1st Cir. 1944); United States v. 125.07 Acres of Land, More or Less, Situated in Towns of Truro and Wellfleet, Barnstable County, Com. of Mass., 753 F.Supp. 1034, 1038 (D.Mass.1991). With regard to these severance damages, Amtrak's contentions that 6C could not be legally developed for any use before 2017 and that any development was economically infeasible are again unavailing for the same reasons set out supra. 22 Besides missing the mark with its arguments as to the legality and economic feasibility of what the district court concluded to be the highest and best use of 6C, Amtrak did not offer any evidence of its own suggesting that the highest and best use was anything other than what both experts continually stated. Hence, we find no clear error in the district court's awards to CPI (1) of the fair market fee value of 6C as of May 3, 2001 and (2) of severance damages to 6C during the temporary taking of the Air Rights.