Real Estate & Property Law

Still a demand

By Alan Ackerman

Cincinnati.com

A jury has awarded the owners of 1.3 acres at the fast-growing Interstate 75-Ohio 63 intersection $900,000 for their property in an eminent domain case growing out of the Ohio 63 widening project.

The Warren County Common Pleas Court jury award last week was about 50 percent more than the state's appraisers valued the vacant store site across Ohio 63 from the Waffle House restaurant.

"The significance of this case is that it demonstrates the exploding growth along the I-75 corridor," said Richard Glazer, Montgomery-based eminent domain lawyer who represented the property owners James and Kimberly Dinus of Naples, Fla.

The state and city of Monroe are jointly acquiring property along Ohio 63 for the widening project from Trader's World east of I-75 to Union Road on west side of I-75. Most of the property owners have reached agreement or are in negotiations on the value of their property. The Dinus case is the first to go to trial.

When it filed its eminent domain lawsuit in 2007, the state offered $335,510 for a partial taking of the Dinus property that eliminated access to Ohio 63.

Glazer argued the partial taking by eliminating access to the property made it useless. The state subsequently converted its case to a total taking of the property. During the three-day trial last week, the state's appraisers valued the site at $602,000 and $651,200, respectively. The Dinus appraiser valued the site at $1,023,399.

Despite the concerns all of us have about the general economy, there can still be a demand for land in contemplation of growth in a community. There are always parcels especially well suited for development in the near term. 

Mr. Glazer apparently did a great job of explaining the potential for development to the jury.

Full post as published by National Eminent Domain Blog on March 11, 2009 (boomark / email).