A piano tuner battling a state agency to keep his family home in Atlantic City today sent Gov. Chris Christie's office more than 100,000 signatures calling for New Jersey officials to drop their effort to take the three-story brick walkup through eminent domain.

Charles Birnbaum, 67, of Hammonton, contends the home that his parents bought in 1969 was never for sale and that the state has not offered an adequate answer about why the property is needed. The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has targeted Birnbaum's home, which sits in the shadow of the former Revel Casino Hotel, as part of a mixed-use development project intended to help revitalize the ailing resort town.

Though the agency acknowledges it cannot identify exactly what Birnbaum's property will be used for, a Superior Court judge in November ruled in the state's favor.

The judge wrote in his decision that the “effort to promote tourism in Atlantic City and assist the ailing gaming industry is a valid public purpose to justify the taking of the Birnbaum property.”

Lawyers with the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, which is working with Birnbaum on the case, vowed to appeal the decision.

Birnbaum started an online petition on Change.org about two weeks before the judge's decision was handed down. More than 102,000 people had signed the petition as of this morning.

Those signatures were loaded onto a USB flash drive and mailed to the governor's office today, according to the Institute for Justice.

Spokesmen for Christie did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Birnbaum, who rents the two upstairs apartments in the Oriental Avenue home and uses the ground floor as a piano studio, said in a statement that people from around the world have signed the petition to save his property.

"I wish the New Jersey state government would open its eyes to this injustice," he said. "Something like this should never happen anywhere, but especially not here in America.”

Erin O'Neill may be reached at eoneill@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LedgerErin. Find NJ.com on Facebook.