PENN CENTRAL TRANSPORTATION CO. ET AL. v. NEW YORK CITY ET AL.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
438 U.S. 104 June 26, 1978, Decided
MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN delivered the opinion of the Court.
The question presented is whether a city may, as part of a comprehensive program to preserve historic landmarks and historic districts, place restrictions on the development of individual historic landmarks -- in addition to those imposed by applicable zoning ordinances -- without effecting a "taking" requiring the payment of "just compensation." Specifically, we must decide whether the application of New York City's Landmarks Preservation Law to the parcel of land occupied by Grand Central Terminal has "taken" its owners' property in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Over the past 50 years, all 50 States and over 500 municipalities have enacted laws to encourage or require the preservation of buildings and areas with historic or aesthetic importance. These nationwide legislative efforts have been precipitated by two concerns. The first is recognition that, in recent years, large numbers of historic structures, landmarks, and areas have been destroyed without adequate consideration of either the values represented therein or the possibility of preserving the destroyed properties for use in economically productive ways. The second is a widely shared belief that structures with special historic, cultural, or architectural significance enhance the quality of life for all. Not only do these buildings and their workmanship represent the lessons of the past and embody precious features of our heritage, they serve as examples of quality for today. "[Historic] conservation is but one aspect of the much larger problem, basically an environmental one, of enhancing -- or perhaps developing for the first time -- the quality of life for people."
New York City, responding to similar concerns and acting pursuant to a New York State enabling Act, adopted its Landmarks Preservation Law in 1965. The city acted from the conviction that "the standing of [New York City] as a world-wide tourist center and world capital of business, culture and government" would be threatened if legislation were not enacted to protect historic landmarks and neighborhoods from precipitate decisions to destroy or fundamentally alter their character. The city believed that comprehensive measures to safeguard desirable features of the existing urban fabric would benefit its citizens in a variety of ways: e. g., fostering "civic pride in the beauty and noble accomplishments of the past"; protecting and enhancing "the city's attractions to tourists and visitors"; "[supporting] and [stimulating] business and industry"; "[strengthening] the economy of the city"; and promoting "the use of historic districts, landmarks, interior landmarks and scenic landmarks for the education, pleasure and welfare of the people of the city."
The New York City law is typical of many urban landmark laws in that its primary method of achieving its goals is not by acquisitions of historic properties, but rather by involving public entities in land-use decisions affecting these properties and providing services, standards, controls, and incentives that will encourage preservation by private owners and users. While the law does place special restrictions on landmark properties as a necessary feature to the attainment of its larger objectives, the major theme of the law is to ensure the owners of any such properties both a "reasonable return" on their investments and maximum latitude to use their parcels for purposes not inconsistent with the preservation goals.
The operation of the law
can be briefly summarized. The primary responsibility for administering
the law is vested in the Landmarks Preservation Commission (Commission),
a broad based, 11-member agency assisted by a technical staff. The
Commission first performs the function, critical to any landmark preservation
effort, of identifying properties and areas that have "a special character
or special historical or aesthetic interest or value as part of the development,
heritage or cultural characteristics of the city, state or nation."
If the Commission determines, after giving all interested parties an opportunity
to be heard, that a building or area satisfies the ordinance's criteria,
it will designate a building to be a "landmark," situated on a particular
"landmark site," or will designate] an area to be a "historic
district." After the Commission makes a designation, New York City's Board
of Estimate, after considering the relationship of the designated property
"to the master plan, the zoning resolution, projected public improvements
and any plans for the renewal of the area involved," may modify or
disapprove the designation, and the owner may seek judicial review of the
final designation decision. Thus far, 31 historic districts and over 400
individual landmarks have been finally designated, and the process
is a continuing one.
Final designation as a
landmark results in restrictions upon the property owner's options concerning
use of the landmark site. First,the law imposes a duty upon the owner to
keep the exterior features of the building "in good repair" to assure that
the law's objectives not be defeated by the landmark's falling into a state
of irremediable disrepair. Second,
the Commission must approve
in advance any proposal to alter the exterior architectural features of
the landmark or to construct any exterior improvement on the landmark site,
thus ensuring that decisions concerning construction on the landmark site
are made with due consideration of both the public interest in the maintenance
of the structure and the landowner's interest in use of the property. In
the event an owner wishes to alter a landmark site, three separate procedures
are available through which administrative approval may be obtained. First,
the owner may apply to the Commission for a "certificate of no effect on
protected architectural features": that is, for an order approving the
improvement or alteration on the ground that it will not change or affect
any architectural feature of the landmark and will be in harmony therewith.
Denial of the certificate is subject to judicial review.
Second, the owner may
apply to the Commission for a certificate of "appropriateness." Such certificates
will be
granted if the Commission
concludes -- focusing upon aesthetic, historical, and architectural values
-- that the proposed
construction on the landmark
site would not unduly hinder the protection, enhancement, perpetuation,
and use of the landmark. Again, denial of the certificate is subject to
judicial review. Moreover, the owner who is denied either a certificate
of no exterior effect or a certificate of appropriateness may submit an
alternative or modified plan for approval. The final procedure -- seeking
a certificate of appropriateness on the ground of "insufficient return,"
provides special mechanisms, which vary depending on whether or not the
landmark enjoys a tax exemption, to ensure that designation does not cause
economic hardship.
Although the designation
of a landmark and landmark site restricts the owner's control over the
parcel, designation
also enhances the economic
position of the landmark owner in one significant respect. Under New York
City's zoning laws, owners of real property who have not developed their
property to the full extent permitted by the applicable zoning laws are
allowed to transfer development rights to contiguous parcels on the same
city block. In 1969, the law governing the conditions under which transfers
from landmark parcels could occur was liberalized, see New York City Zoning
Resolutions 74-79 to 74-793, apparently to ensure that the Landmarks Law
would not unduly restrict the development options of the owners of Grand
Central Terminal. The class of recipient lots was expanded to include lots
"across a street and opposite to another lot or lots which except for the
intervention of streets or street intersections [form] a series extending
to the lot occupied by the landmark [building, provided that] all lots
[are] in the same
ownership
This case involves the application of New York City's Landmarks Preservation Law to Grand Central Terminal (Terminal). The Terminal, which is owned by the Penn Central Transportation Co. and its affiliates (Penn Central), is one of New York City's most famous buildings. Opened in 1913, it is regarded not only as providing an ingenious engineering solution to the problems presented by urban railroad stations, but also as a magnificent example of the French beaux-arts style.
The Terminal is located
in midtown Manhattan. Its south facade faces 42d Street and that street's
intersection with Park Avenue. At street level, the Terminal is bounded
on the west by Vanderbilt Avenue, on the east by the Commodore Hotel, and
on the north by the Pan-American Building. Although a 20-story office tower,
to have been located above the Terminal, was part of the original design,
the planned tower was never constructed. The Terminal itself is an eight-story
structure which Penn Central uses as a railroad station and in which it
rents space not needed for railroad purposes to a variety of commercial
interests. The Terminal is one of a number of properties owned by appellant
Penn Central in this area of midtown Manhattan. The others include the
Barclay, Biltmore, Commodore, Roosevelt, and Waldorf-Astoria Hotels, the
Pan-American Building and other office buildings along Park Avenue, and
the Yale Club. At least eight of these are eligible to be recipients of
development rights afforded the Terminal by virtue of landmark designation.
On August 2, 1967, following
a public hearing, the Commission designated the Terminal a "landmark" and
designated
the "city tax block"
it occupies a "landmark site." The Board of Estimate confirmed this action
on September 21,
1967. Although appellant
Penn Central had opposed the designation before the Commission, it did
not seek judicial review of the final designation decision.
On January 22, 1968, appellant Penn Central, to increase its income, entered into a renewable 50-year lease and sublease agreement with appellant UGP Properties, Inc. (UGP), a wholly owned subsidiary of Union General Properties, Ltd., a United Kingdom corporation. Under the terms of the agreement, UGP was to construct a multistory office building above the Terminal. UGP promised to pay Penn Central $ 1 million annually during construction and at least $ 3 million annually thereafter. The rentals would be offset in part by a loss of some $ 700,000 to $ 1 million in net rentals presently received from concessionaires displaced by the new building.
Appellants UGP and Penn
Central then applied to the Commission for permission to construct an office
building atop the Terminal. Two separate plans, both designed by architect
Marcel Breuer and both apparently satisfying the terms of the applicable
zoning ordinance, were submitted to the Commission for approval. The first,
Breuer I, provided for the construction of a 55-story office building,
to be cantilevered above the existing facade and to rest on the roof of
the Terminal. The second, Breuer II revised, called for tearing down a
portion of the Terminal that included the 42d Street facade, stripping
off some of the remaining features of the Terminal's facade, and constructing
a 53-story office building. The Commission denied a certificate of no exterior
effect on September 20, 1968. Appellants then applied for a certificate
of "appropriateness" as to both proposals. After four days of hearings
at which over 80 witnesses testified, the Commission denied this application
as to both proposals.
The Commission's reasons for rejecting certificates respecting Breuer II Revised are summarized in the following statement: "To protect a Landmark, one does not tear it down. To perpetuate its architectural features, one does not strip them off." Breuer I, which would have preserved the existing vertical facades of the present structure, received more sympathetic consideration. The Commission first focused on the effect that the proposed tower would have on one desirable feature created by the present structure and its surroundings: the dramatic view of the Terminal from Park Avenue South. Although appellants had contended that the Pan-American Building had already destroyed the silhouette of the south facade and that one additional tower could do no further damage and might even provide a better background for the facade, the Commission disagreed, stating that it found the majestic approach from the south to be still unique in the city and that a 5-story tower atop the Terminal would be far more detrimental to its south facade than the Pan-American Building 375 feet way. Moreover, the Commission found that from closer vantage points the Pan-American Building and the other towers were largely cut off from view, which would not be the case of the mass on top of the Terminal planned under Breuer I. In conclusion, the Commission stated:
"[We have] no fixed rule
against making additions to designated buildings -- it all depends on how
they are done . . .
But to balance
a 55-story office tower above a flamboyant Beaux-Arts facade seems nothing
more than an aesthetic
joke. Quite simply, the
tower would overwhelm the Terminal by its sheer mass. The 'addition' would
be four times as high as the existing structure and would reduce the Landmark
itself to the status of a curiosity.
"Landmarks cannot be divorced
from their settings -- particularly when the setting is a dramatic and
integral part of the original concept. The Terminal, in its setting, is
a great example of urban design. Such examples are not so plentiful in
New York City that we can afford to lose any of the few we have. And we
must preserve them in a meaningful way -- with alterations and additions
of such character, scale, materials and mass as will protect, enhance and
perpetuate the original design rather than overwhelm it."
Appellants did not seek
judicial review of the denial of either certificate. Because the Terminal
site enjoyed a tax exemption, remained suitable for its present and future
uses, and was not the subject of a contract of sale, there were no further
administrative remedies available to appellants as to the Breuer I and
Breuer II Revised plans.
Instead, appellants filed
suit in New York Supreme Court, Trial Term, claiming, inter alia, that
the application of the Landmarks Preservation Law had "taken" their property
without just compensation in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments
and arbitrarily deprived them of their property without due process of
law in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The issues presented by appellants are (1) whether the restrictions imposed by New York City's law upon appellants' exploitation of the Terminal site effect a "taking" of appellants' property for a public use within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment, which of course is made applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, and, (2), if so, whether the transferable development rights afforded appellants constitute "just compensation" within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment. We need only address the question whether a "taking" has occurred.
Before considering appellants'
specific contentions, it will be useful to review the factors that have
shaped the
jurisprudence of the
Fifth Amendment injunction "nor shall private property be taken for public
use, without just compensation." The question of what constitutes a "taking"
for purposes of the Fifth Amendment has proved to be a problem of considerable
difficulty. While this Court has recognized that the "Fifth Amendment's
guarantee . . . [is] designed to bar Government from forcing some people
alone to bear public burdens which, in all fairness and justice, should
be borne by the public as a whole," this Court, quite simply, has been
unable to develop any "set formula" for determining when "justice and fairness"
require that economic injuries caused by public action be compensated by
the government, rather than remain disproportionately concentrated on a
few persons. Indeed, we have frequently observed that whether a particular
restriction will be rendered invalid by the government's failure to pay
for any losses proximately caused by it depends largely "upon the particular
circumstances [in that] case."
In engaging in these essentially ad hoc, factual inquiries, the Court's decisions have identified several factors that have particular significance. The economic impact of the regulation on the claimant and, particularly, the extent to which the regulation has interfered with distinct investment-backed expectations are, of course, relevant considerations. So, too, is the character of the governmental action. A "taking" may more readily be found when the interference with property can be characterized as a physical invasion by government, than when interference arises from some public program adjusting the benefits and burdens of economic life to promote the common good. "Government hardly could go on if to some extent values incident to property could not be diminished without paying for every such change in the general law," and this Court has accordingly recognized, in a wide variety of contexts, that government may execute laws or programs that adversely affect recognized economic values. Exercises of the taxing power are one obvious example. A second are the decisions in which this Court has dismissed "taking" challenges on the ground that, while the challenged government action caused economic harm, it did not interfere with interests that were sufficiently bound up with the reasonable expectations of the claimant to constitute "property" for Fifth Amendment purposes.
More importantly for the present case, in instances in which a state tribunal reasonably concluded that "the health, safety, morals, or general welfare" would be promoted by prohibiting particular contemplated uses of land, this Court has upheld land-use regulations that destroyed or adversely affected recognized real property interests.
Zoning laws generally
do not affect existing uses of real property, but "taking" challenges have
also been held to be without merit in a wide variety of situations when
the challenged governmental actions prohibited a beneficial use to which
individual parcels had previously been devoted and thus caused substantial
individualized harm. Miller v. Schoene, 276 U.S. 272 (1928), is illustrative.
In that case, a state entomologist, acting pursuant to a state statute,
ordered the claimants to cut down a large number of ornamental red
cedar trees because they produced cedar rust fatal to apple trees cultivated
nearby. Although the statute provided for recovery of any expense incurred
in removing the cedars, and permitted claimants to use the felled trees,
it did not provide compensation for the value of the standing trees or
for the resulting decrease in market value of the properties as a whole.
A unanimous Court held that this latter omission did not render the statute
invalid. The Court held that the State might properly make "a choice between
the preservation of one class of property and that of the other" and since
the apple industry was important in the State involved, concluded that
the State had not exceeded "its constitutional powers by deciding upon
the destruction of one class of property [without compensation] in order
to save another which, in the judgment of the
legislature, is of greater
value to the public."
Again, Hadacheck v. Sebastian, 239 U.S. 394 (1915), upheld a law prohibiting the claimant from continuing his otherwise lawful business of operating a brickyard in a particular physical community on the ground that the legislature had reasonably concluded that the presence of the brickyard was inconsistent with neighboring uses. Goldblatt v. Hempstead, supra, is a recent example. There, a 1958 city safety ordinance banned any excavations below the water table and effectively prohibited the claimant from continuing a sand and gravel mining business that had been operated on the particular parcel since 1927. The Court upheld the ordinance against a "taking" challenge, although the ordinance prohibited the present and presumably most beneficial use of the property and had, like the regulations in Miller and Hadacheck, severely affected a particular owner. The Court assumed that the ordinance did not prevent the owner's reasonable use of the property since the owner made no showing of an adverse effect on the value of the land. Because the restriction served a substantial public purpose, the Court thus held no taking had occurred. It is, of course, implicit in Goldblatt that a use restriction on real property may constitute a "taking" if not reasonably necessary to the effectuation of a substantial public purpose or perhaps if it has an unduly harsh impact upon the owner's use of the property.
Pennsylvania Coal Co.
v. Mahon, 260 U.S. 393 (1922), is the leading case for the proposition
that a state statute that
substantially furthers
important public policies may so frustrate distinct investment-backed expectations
as to amount to a "taking." There the claimant had sold the surface rights
to particular parcels of property, but expressly reserved the right to
remove the coal hereunder. A Pennsylvania statute, enacted after the transactions,
forbade any mining of coal that caused the subsidence of any house,
unless the house was the property of the owner of the underlying coal and
was more than 150 feet from the improved property of another. Because the
statute made it commercially impracticable to mine the coal, and thus had
nearly the same effect as the complete destruction of rights claimant had
reserved from the owners of the surface land, the Court held that
the statute was invalid as effecting a "taking" without just compensation.
Finally, government actions
that may be characterized as acquisitions of resources to permit or facilitate
uniquely
public functions have
often been held to constitute "takings." United States v. Causby, 328 U.S.
256 (1946), is illustrative. In holding that direct overflights above the
claimant's land, that destroyed the present use of the land as a chicken
farm, constituted a "taking," Causby emphasized that Government had not
"merely destroyed property [but was] using a part of it for the flight
of its planes."
In contending that the
New York City law has "taken" their property in violation of the Fifth
and Fourteenth Amendments, appellants make a series of arguments, which,
while tailored to the facts of this case, essentially urge that any
substantial restriction
imposed pursuant to a landmark law must be accompanied by just compensation
if it is to be constitutional. Before considering these, we emphasize what
is not in dispute. Because this Court has recognized, in a number of settings,
that states and cities may enact land-use restrictions or controls to enhance
the quality of life by preserving the character and desirable aesthetic
features of a city, appellants do not contest that New York City's objective
of preserving structures and areas with special historic, architectural,
or cultural significance is an entirely permissible governmental goal.
They also do not dispute that the restrictions imposed on its parcel are
appropriate means of securing the purposes of the New York City law. Finally,
appellants do not challenge any of the specific factual premises of the
decision below. They accept for present purposes both that the parcel of
land occupied by Grand Central Terminal must, in its present state, be
regarded as capable of earning a reasonable return, and that the transferable
development rights afforded appellants by virtue of the Terminal's designation
as a landmark are valuable, even if not as valuable as the rights to construct
above the Terminal. In appellants' view none of these factors derogate
from their claim that New York City's law has effected a "taking."
They first observe that
the airspace above the Terminal is a valuable property interest, citing
United States v. Causby,
supra. They urge that
the Landmarks Law has deprived them of any gainful use of their "air rights"
above the Terminal and that, irrespective of the value of the remainder
of their parcel, the city has "taken" their right to this superjacent airspace,
thus entitling them to "just compensation" measured by the fair market
value of these air rights. Apart from our own disagreement with appellants'
characterization of the effect of the New York City law, the submission
that appellants may establish a "taking" simply by showing that they have
been denied the ability to exploit a property interest that they heretofore
had believed was available for development is quite simply untenable.
"Taking" jurisprudence does not divide a single parcel into discrete segments
and attempt to determine whether rights in a particular segment have been
entirely abrogated. In deciding whether a particular governmental action
has effected a taking, this Court focuses rather both on the character
of the action and on the nature and extent of the interference with rights
in the parcel as a whole -- here, the city tax block designated as the
"landmark site."
Secondly, appellants, focusing on the character and impact of the New York City law, argue that it effects a "taking" because its operation has significantly diminished the value of the Terminal site. Appellants concede that the decisions sustaining other land-use regulations, which, like the New York City law, are reasonably related to the promotion of the general welfare, uniformly reject the proposition that diminution in property value, standing alone, can establish a "taking." Appellants, moreover, also do not dispute that a showing of diminution in property value would not establish a "taking" if the restriction had been imposed as a result of historic-district legislation, but appellants argue that New York City's regulation of individual landmarks is fundamentally different from zoning or from historic-district legislation because the controls imposed by New York City's law apply only to individuals who own selected properties.
Stated baldly, appellants' position appears to be that the only means of ensuring that selected owners are not singled out to endure financial hardship for no reason is to hold that any restriction imposed on individual landmarks pursuant to the New York City scheme is a "taking" requiring the payment of "just compensation." Agreement with this argument would, of course, invalidate not just New York City's law, but all comparable landmark legislation in the Nation. We find no merit in it.
It is true, as appellants
emphasize, that both historic-district legislation and zoning laws regulate
all properties within
given physical communities
whereas landmark laws apply only to selected parcels. But, contrary to
appellants' suggestions, landmark laws are not like discriminatory, or
"reverse spot," zoning: that is, a land-use decisionwhich arbitrarily singles
out a particular parcel for different, less favorable treatment than the
neighboring ones. In contrast to discriminatory zoning, which is the antithesis
of land-use control as part of some comprehensive plan, the New York City
law embodies a comprehensive plan to preserve structures of historic or
aesthetic interest wherever they might be found in the city. Equally without
merit is the related argument that the decision to designate a structure
as a landmark "is inevitably arbitrary or at least subjective, because
it is basically a matter of taste," thus unavoidably singling out
individual landowners for disparate and unfair treatment. The argument
has a particularly hollow ring in this case. For appellants not only did
not seek judicial review of either the designation or of the denials of
the certificates of appropriateness and of no exterior effect, but do not
even now suggest that the Commission's decisions concerning the Terminal
were in any sense arbitrary or unprincipled.
Next, appellants observe that New York City's law differs from zoning laws and historic-district ordinances in that the Landmarks Law does not impose identical or similar restrictions on all structures located in particular physical communities. It follows, they argue, that New York City's law is inherently incapable of producing the fair and equitable distribution of benefits and burdens of governmental action which is characteristic of zoning laws and historic-district legislation and which they maintain is a constitutional requirement if "just compensation" is not to be afforded. It is, of course, true that the Landmarks Law has a more severe impact on some landowners than on others, but that in itself does not mean that the law effects a "taking." Legislation designed to promote the general welfare commonly burdens some more than others.
Appellants' final broad-based attack would have us treat the law as an instance, like that in United States v. Causby, in which government, acting in an enterprise capacity, has appropriated part of their property for some strictly governmental purpose. Apart from the fact that Causby was a case of invasion of airspace that destroyed the use of the farm beneath and this New York City law has in nowise impaired the present use of the Terminal, the Landmarks Law neither exploits appellants' parcel for city purposes nor facilitates nor arises from any entrepreneurial operations of the city. The situation is not remotely like that in Causby where the airspace above the property was in the flight pattern for military aircraft. The Landmarks Law's effect is simply to prohibit appellants or anyone else from occupying portions of the airspace above the Terminal, while permitting appellants to use the remainder of the parcel in a gainful fashion. This is no more an appropriation of property by government for its own uses than is a zoning law prohibiting, for "aesthetic" reasons, two or more adult theaters within a specified area, or a safety regulation prohibiting excavations below a certain level.
Rejection of appellants'
broad arguments is not, however, the end of our inquiry, for all we thus
far have established is
that the New York City
law is not rendered invalid by its failure to provide "just compensation"
whenever a landmark owner is restricted in the exploitation of property
interests, such as air rights, to a greater extent than provided for under
applicable zoning laws. We now must consider whether the interference with
appellants' property is of such a magnitude that "there must be an exercise
of eminent domain and compensation to sustain [it]." That inquiry may be
narrowed to the question of the severity of the impact of the law on appellants'
parcel, and its resolution in
turn requires a careful
assessment of the impact of the regulation on the Terminal site. Unlike
the governmental acts in Goldblatt, Miller, Causby, Griggs, and Hadacheck,
the New York City law does not interfere in any way with the present uses
of the Terminal. Its designation as a landmark not only permits but contemplates
that appellants may continue to use the property precisely as it has been
used for the past 65 years: as a railroad terminal containing office space
and concessions. So the
law does not interfere with what must be regarded as Penn Central's primary
expectation concerning the use of the parcel. More importantly, on this
record, we must regard the New York City law as permitting Penn Central
not only to profit from the Terminal but also to obtain a "reasonable return"
on its investment.
On this record, we conclude
that the application of New York City's Landmarks Law has not effected
a "taking" of
appellants' property.
The restrictions imposed are substantially related to the promotion of
the general welfare and not only permit reasonable beneficial use of the
landmark site but also afford appellants opportunities further to enhance
not only the Terminal site proper but also other properties.
Affirmed.
MR. JUSTICE REHNQUIST,
with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and MR. JUSTICE STEVENS join,
dissenting.
Of the over one million buildings and structures in the city of New York, appellees have singled out 400 for designation as official landmarks. The owner of a building might initially be pleased that his property has been chosen by a distinguished committee of architects, historians, and city planners for such a singular distinction. But he may well discover, as appellant Penn Central Transportation Co. did here, that the landmark designation imposes upon him a substantial cost, with little or no offsetting benefit except for the honor of the designation. The question in this case is whether the cost associated with the city of New York's desire to preserve a limited number of "landmarks" within its borders must be borne by all of its taxpayers or whether it can instead be imposed entirely on the owners of the individual properties.
Only in the most superficial sense of the word can this case be said to involve "zoning." Typical zoning restrictions may, it is true, so limit the prospective uses of a piece of property as to diminish the value of that property in the abstract because it may not be used for the forbidden purposes. But any such abstract decrease in value will more than likely be at least partially offset by an increase in value which flows from similar restrictions as to use on neighboring properties. All property owners in a designated area are placed under the same restrictions, not only for the benefit of the municipality as a whole but also for the common benefit of one another. In the words of Mr. Justice Holmes, speaking for the Court in Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon, 260 U.S. 393, 415 (1922), there is "an average reciprocity of advantage."
Where a relatively few individual buildings, all separated from one another, are singled out and treated differently from surrounding buildings, no such reciprocity exists. The cost to the property owner which results from the imposition of restrictions applicable only to his property and not that of his neighbors may be substantial -- in this case, several million dollars -- with no comparable reciprocal benefits. And the cost associated with landmark legislation is likely to be of a completely different order of magnitude than that which results from the imposition of normal zoning restrictions. Unlike the regime affected by the latter, the landowner is not simply prohibited from using his property for certain purposes, while allowed to use it for all other purposes. Under the historic-landmark preservation scheme adopted by New York, the property owner is under an affirmative duty to preserve his property as a landmark at his own expense. To suggest that because traditional zoning results in some limitation of use of the property zoned, the New York City landmark preservation scheme should likewise be upheld, represents the ultimate in treating as alike things which are different. The rubric of "zoning" has not yet sufficed to avoid the well-established proposition that the Fifth Amendment bars the "Government from forcing some people alone to bear public burdens which, in all fairness and justice, should be borne by the public as a whole."
The Fifth Amendment provides
in part: "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just
compensation."
In a very literal sense,
the actions of appellees violated this constitutional prohibition. Before
the city of New York
declared Grand Central
Terminal to be a landmark, Penn Central could have used its "air rights"
over the Terminal to
build a multistory office
building, at an apparent value of several million dollars per year. Today,
the Terminal cannot
be modified in any form,
including the erection of additional stories, without the permission of
the Landmark Preservation Commission, a permission which appellants, despite
good-faith attempts, have so far been unable to obtain. Because the Taking
Clause of the Fifth Amendment has not always been read literally, however,
the constitutionality of appellees' actions requires a closer scrutiny
of this Court's interpretation of the three key words in the Taking Clause
-- "property," "taken," and "just compensation."
Appellees do not dispute that valuable property rights have been destroyed. And the Court has frequently emphasized that the term "property" as used in the Taking Clause includes the entire "group of rights inhering in the citizen's [ownership]." While neighboring landowners are free to use their land and "air rights" in any way consistent with the broad boundaries of New York zoning, Penn Central, absent the permission of appellees, must forever maintain its property in its present state. The property has been thus subjected to a nonconsensual servitude not borne by any neighboring or similar properties.
Appellees have thus destroyed
-- in a literal sense, "taken" -- substantial property rights of Penn Central.
Unlike land-use regulations, appellees' actions do not merely prohibit
Penn Central from using its property in a narrow set of noxious ways. Instead,
appellees have placed an affirmative duty on Penn Central to maintain the
Terminal in its present state
and in "good repair."
Appellants are not free to use their property as they see fit within broad
outer boundaries but must strictly adhere to their past use except where
appellees conclude that alternative uses would not detract from the landmark.
While Penn Central may continue to use the Terminal as it is presently
designed, appellees otherwise "exercise complete dominion and control over
the surface of the land," United States v. Causby, 328 U.S. 256, 262 (1946),
and must compensate the owner for his loss. "Property is taken in
the constitutional sense when inroads are made upon an owner's use of it
to an extent that, as between private parties, a servitude has been acquired."
A multimillion dollar
loss has been imposed on appellants; it is uniquely felt and is not offset
by any benefits flowing
from the preservation
of some 400 other "landmarks" in New York City. Appellees have imposed
a substantial cost on less than one one-tenth of one percent of the buildings
in New York City for the general benefit of all its people. It is exactly
this imposition of general costs on a few individuals at which the "taking"
protection is directed....
Over 50 years ago, Mr. Justice Holmes, speaking for the Court, warned that the courts were "in danger of forgetting that a strong public desire to improve the public condition is not enough to warrant achieving the desire by a shorter cut than the constitutional way of paying for the change." Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon, 260 U.S., at 416. The Court's opinion in this case demonstrates that the danger thus foreseen has not abated. The city of New York is in a precarious financial state, and some may believe that the costs of landmark preservation will be more easily borne by corporations such as Penn Central than the overburdened individual taxpayers of New York. But these concerns do not allow us to ignore past precedents construing the Eminent Domain Clause to the end that the desire to improve the public condition is, indeed, achieved by a shorter cut than the constitutional way of paying for the change.