Appeals Court to Hear Brinkmann’s Hardware Land Lawsuit

Ben and Hank Brinkmann of the Brinkmann's hardware store chain
Ben and Hank Brinkmann
Photo Courtesy of Institute for Justice

Attorneys for Brinkmann’s Hardware argued that the Town of Southold illegally condemned the store’s land in a case that went before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Wednesday, May 3.

Sayville-based Brinkmann’s Hardware, which has locations across Long Island, purchased a 2-ace vacant lot in Mattituck where it planned to build a 12,000-square-foot store, but the town used eminent domain to seize the land, saying that it planned to build a park there.

In their lawsuit, filed on May 4 of 2021, Brinkmann’s alleged that the town had fabricated these plans to build a park on the Main Road location in order to condemn the land under eminent domain.

Brinkmann’s reportedly purchased the lot for $700,000 in 2016 and the town later enacted a construction moratorium in the area. The hardware chain said in court documents that Southold’s plans for building a park were “a sham.”