A few years back, 5Pointz in Long Island City, Queens was demolished. Now, the developer is being held accountable for destroying the historic mecca.

According to Gothamist, 21 graffiti artists are set to receive $6.75 million in statutory damages for the destruction. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued this decision Thursday, it upholds the ruling made by a lower court in 2018 to award the aforementioned amount.

Developer Gerald Wolkoff was originally sued by the artists and the lawsuit was filed under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. The artists sought to justify that their work at the Queens factory was work of “recognized stature.” The New York Daily News reports that Judge Barrington Parker wrote the following in his decision: “Although a work’s short lifespan means that there will be fewer opportunities for the work to be viewed and evaluated, the temporary nature of the art is not a bar to recognized stature.”

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