NEW YORK, NY June 30, 2005 —A judge has thrown out a Red Hook community group's lawsuit against the city, and IKEA.

In a last-ditch effort to stop IKEA, the Coalition to Revitalize Our Waterfront had sued. The group argued the city's environmental impact statement was flawed, and its rezoning of the store site ignored a ten year old community plan to revitalize maritime uses in Red Hook.

State Supreme Court Justice Karen Smith agreed that a Swedish furniture store was not a "maritime use" -- but she said the city should be able to make plans based on current conditions at the gritty site, rather than old hopes.

Justice Smith ruled the city's environmental analysis was reasoned, and adequate. And she noted IKEA plans to make road improvements to help ease traffic flow to the store.