Determining the value of your waterfront property when a government wants it for public use requires a much more detailed analysis than simply measuring square footage. Click here to read…
This article describes the historical standard for challenges to the necessity of eminent domain takings, the effects of the 1963 Michigan Constitution on necessity challenges, and more. Click here to…
Although it doesn’t take an eminent domain and condemnation professional to notice the high volume of vacant properties, abandoned businesses, boarded up homes and for sale signs flooding the streets…
One of the great challenges in a recessionary cycle is reconciling the apparent contradiction between property values disproportionately impacted by the short-term realities of a lean marketplace and a more…
Almost 40 years ago, former Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanagh considered the business flight from the city and deadpanned that he planned trips to “Detroit’s sister cities — Nagasaki and Pompeii.”…
This is the second part of a two-part series dealing with the valuation of surface parking lots acquired through a governmental agency’s power of eminent domain. Parking lots acquired through…
The calculation of damages is of greater relevance with the recognition that damages must be paid when there are temporary takings. This article will cover the early Supreme Court precedent,…
When Warren Mayor Jim Fouts called Detroit’s aging infrastructure a “ticking time bomb that’s ready to go off” earlier this year, he was referring to the state of Southeast Michigan’s…
The first of a two part series dealing with parking lots and the just compensation process for parking lots acquired through a governmental agency’s use of eminent domain. Click here…
This article explores whether the minimum constitutional and statutory requirements are being fulfilled by condemning agencies in the “good faith written offer” process. Statutory Framework All condemnation proceedings in Michigan…
Darius Dynkowski isn’t one to name-drop, but if he was . . . How about Frank Sinatra for starters? Then there was the time that he rubbed elbows with Muhammad…
These are difficult times to ascertain values. Residential values have fallen from 30 to 60 percent of the “abnormal” peaks seen a few years ago. In the past six months,…
This lawyer saw a high court ruling affecting condemnation cases across the country as the chance of a lifetime to make positive social change. Ironically, Alan Ackerman’s huge win in…
MBS International Airport will pay $1.23 million to settle a land dispute with a Freeland man whose land the airport wants for its new passenger terminal project. The case between…
On Thursday, Awdish shut down Frank’s Fast Break Sunoco at Crooks and South Boulevard after two years of trying to keep afloat. He blames road improvements in the area –…