The ongoing legal saga over the city's plan to give DUMBO's Civil War-era Tobacco Warehouse to the theater group St. Ann's Warehouse took an interesting turn on Friday, when a judge ruled that the National Park Service improperly removed the building from federally protected parkland. In January, the Brooklyn Heights Association filed a lawsuit to stop the transfer, arguing that the NPS had illegally cut the Tobacco Warehouse from the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park’s map "so that it could be given to a private organization for free and for its sole and permanent use." Last week, United States District Judge Eric N. Vitalian agreed.
"The house of cards erected by the defense cannot withstand the gentlest breeze," Judge Vitaliano wrote in his decision, which granted a preliminary injunction stopping the $15 million project. The NPS had argued that the Tobacco Warehouse and another old structure, the Empire Stores, were included on the federal map "by mistake." But Vitaliano called this "revisionist," and adding, "there is . . . not a shred of evidence [to suggest a mistake]." He blasted the NPS for relying on information from the City and State agencies "without confirming or even investigating them or requesting any additional information or public comment." And he also rejected the defendants' assertion that the Tobacco Warehouse was "unsuitable" for outdoor public recreation.
Lawyers for the city say that although they're disappointed by the injunction, they look forward to presenting their full case to the court. Currently, the open-air Tobacco Warehouse is only open for special events, but critics tell the Daily News the plan "would freeze out park users who can't afford theater tickets—and that the cash-strapped park would get no money from the theater group in exchange for the building."
