Commissioner of Transportation v. United States Postal Service (2009)

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

Reference is made to the court's memorandum of decision dated November 13, 2009.   In that memorandum, the court was under the mistaken belief that the Commissioner merely offered $1,500,000 for the subject property.   On the contrary, the Postal Service demanded $1,500,000, which it thought represented a fair price for the site because it was “willing to give the Department a right of first refusal, at fair market value, for the balance of the site and will incorporate appropriate language in the sales agreement.”   The Commissioner of Transportation believes the balance of the site is required for an appropriate staging area to construct facilities for the maintenance of the railcars that are being purchased from Japan.

Mr. Walter Kloss, the independent appraiser who opined that the market value of the subject property was $800,000, testified before the court as follows:  that of the value if based on an “assemblage value,” that is the value with other adjacent land that the Commissioner plans to purchase for the state, “could be worth 1.5 million to the State of Connecticut.”

Based upon the testimony the court heard, the undersigned judge trial referee approves the purchase by the Commissioner of Transportation of the subject property for the sum of $1,500,000.

Robert I. Berdon

Judge Trial Referee

Berdon, Robert I., J.T.R.