(The following article by Peter Schworm was posted on the Boston Globe website on July 28.)
BOSTON — Amtrak has agreed to pay a real estate trust owned by Mortimer Zuckerman, a publisher and chairman of the development firm Boston Properties, $126,000 for a sliver of land it took by eminent domain near the Route 128 train station in Westwood. The agreement, reached July 15, settled a lawsuit over compensation for the property, which borders the railway.
Amtrak had seized the 5,100-square-foot parcel two years ago to relocate a freight railroad spur that interfered with passenger tracks into the train station, jointly shared by Amtrak and the MBTA. When the two sides could not agree on the land’s value, Amtrak took the landowners — Zuckerman and fellow real estate trust owner Edward H. Linde — to US District Court. Amtrak initially offered to pay $50,000.
”I don’t believe there were questions as to the legality of the taking,” said Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black. ”We just couldn’t come to an agreement on the proper compensation.”
The tract connects to a 9-acre parcel in the Westwood Industrial Park, which is owned by the real estate trust. Neal Tully, a Boston lawyer representing the trust’s owners, said his clients were pleased with the settlement.