Real Estate & Property Law

Problem Communities Face

By Alan Ackerman

South Bergenite

Cherokee Porete no longer plans to move Arlington Valley forward. The redevelopment project aimed to transform a string of light industrial businesses along Porete Avenue in North Arlington into 1,625 homes, retail space and parks.

The developer officially abandoned its plans during a superior court hearing on March 3. Even though the project will not move forward, Cherokee Porete seeks unspecified damages from North Arlington. The redeveloper claims it spent $39 million on legal and engineering fees, among other things.

The project went sour in December 2006, when the developer sued the borough for allegedly failing to take the Porete Avenue businesses through eminent domain and hand them over to the developer, which was a stipulation of the redeveloper's agreement signed by former Mayor Russell Pitman in April 2006.

Additional court dates were scheduled for this week and Superior Court Judge Jonathan Harris will render a written decision another month or so after closing arguments. If North Arlington loses the case, borough attorney Anthony D'Elia has vowed to appeal the case.

Harris hinted at the possibility of a draw. "There could be a situation where nobody breached," he said.

This is the problem communities with failed eminent domain projects face. If things do not go well, they simply buy themselves a lawsuit and commensurate credit woes when the condemnation efforts fail.

Full post as published by National Eminent Domain Blog on March 17, 2009 (boomark / email).