Eminent Domain

Downtown Crossing was once a major part of the city's landscape. Since the demolition of the building that housed Filene's, it has been a black hole. Is it really on the verge of a comeback? Millennium Partners - the developers of the Ritz-Carlton, Boston - announced last week that the firm is prepared to place a big bet on the Filene's site, where construction of a new office, retail, and housing development stalled more than three years ago. Vornado Realty Trust, the project's New York-based current owner, is to become a passive investor.

The developer of a proposed minor league baseball stadium told the Malden Redevelopment Authority last Tuesday that his group is planning to make offers by the end of April to buy three plots of land required to move forward on the $50 million project. The properties are home to three businesses: L&L Services, a trucking and landscaping company at 11 Canal St.; Spadafora's Auto Parts, 129 Charles St.; and Collex auto body repair, 124 Centre St. Together, they make up roughly a quarter of the 7-acre site primarily owned by National Grid, which is expected to lease its site on Commercial Street across...

WEARE, N.H. -- A group opposed to a US Supreme Court decision on eminent domain gathered signatures yesterday in support of turning Justice David Souter's home into a hotel. About 25 volunteers gathered at Weare Town Hall before setting out in teams to canvas the town. William Deans of Allentown, Pa., said he joined the effort because Allentown officials are dealing with urban blight by seizing homes and property in his neighborhood. "I'm here today because I believe in the cause and my personal home is in eminent domain proceedings," Deans said.

The developer of a proposed minor league baseball stadium told the Malden Redevelopment Authority last Tuesday that his group is planning to make offers by the end of April to buy three plots of land required to move forward on the $50 million project. The properties are home to three businesses: L&L Services, a trucking and landscaping company at 11 Canal St.; Spadafora's Auto Parts, 129 Charles St.; and Collex auto body repair, 124 Centre St. Together, they make up roughly a quarter of the 7-acre site primarily owned by National Grid, which is expected to lease its site on...

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- City officials voted last night to begin eviction proceedings against residents who refuse to leave their riverfront homes, a move that could signal the end is near in an eminent domain dispute that reached the US Supreme Court. The City Council approved the action 5-2. The city attorney will now go to court to seek to evict the remaining two families and obtain the properties, a process that could take up to three months. "I anticipate we are headed into the home stretch," New London Mayor Elizabeth Sabilia said yesterday before the City Council took its vote on the Fort...

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed yesterday to decide when governments may seize people's homes and businesses for economic development projects, a key question as cash-strapped cities seek ways to generate tax revenue. At issue is the scope of the Fifth Amendment, which allows governments to take private property through eminent domain, provided the owner is given "just compensation" and the land is for "public use. " Susette Kelo and several other homeowners in a working-class neighborhood in New London, Conn., filed a lawsuit after city officials...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Joy and Carl Gamble say they just want to retire peacefully in the dream home where they had lived for more than 35 years, but the Cincinnati suburb of Norwood has other plans for their property. Using its power of eminent domain, the city plans to take the neighborhood, which it considers to be deteriorating, and allow a $125 million development of offices and shops to rise in its place. The two sides took their argument to the state supreme court yesterday in the first challenge of property rights laws to reach a state high court since the US...

The New Hampshire Senate may be putting off until next year action on a bill to slow down a project to carry hydroelectric power from Canada to New England. The Senate Judiciary Committee is recommending holding onto the bill that would prohibit using eminent domain to take private land for projects like Northern Pass. Committee members say they need more time to study the issue. Hundreds from across the state attended hearings on the bill. Opponents argue it could stop many necessary electric transmission upgrades.

The developer of a proposed minor league baseball stadium told the Malden Redevelopment Authority last Tuesday that his group is planning to make offers by the end of April to buy three plots of land required to move forward on the $50 million project. The properties are home to three businesses: L&L Services, a trucking and landscaping company at 11 Canal St.; Spadafora's Auto Parts, 129 Charles St.; and Collex auto body repair, 124 Centre St. Together, they make up roughly a quarter of the 7-acre site primarily owned by National Grid, which is expected to lease its site on...

WASHINGTON -- Contending that the Supreme Court has undermined a pillar of American society -- the sanctity of the home -- the House overwhelmingly approved a bill yesterday to block the court-approved seizure of private property for use by developers. The bill, passed 376 to 38, would withhold federal money from state and local governments that use powers of eminent domain to force businesses and homeowners to give up their property for commercial uses. The Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 ruling in June, recognized the power of local governments to seize...

FOXBOROUGH - An increasingly bitter land dispute between the town and its largest taxpayer, The Kraft Group, escalated Tuesday into federal court, where a judge ruled the town must allow Kraft representatives to publicly address the Board of Selectmen. US District Judge Joseph L. Tauro issued the order Tuesday, in response to a lawsuit filed by the company founded by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Kraft's civil rights complaint against Foxborough selectmen and Town Manager Kevin Paicos alleged that Kraft representatives were illegally denied the right to...

Downtown Crossing was once a major part of the city's landscape. Since the demolition of the building that housed Filene's, it has been a black hole. Is it really on the verge of a comeback? Millennium Partners - the developers of the Ritz-Carlton, Boston - announced last week that the firm is prepared to place a big bet on the Filene's site, where construction of a new office, retail, and housing development stalled more than three years ago. Vornado Realty Trust, the project's New York-based current owner, is to become a passive investor.

A New Hampshire Senate committee is meeting this week to make a recommendation on a bill that would slow down a project to carry hydroelectric power from Canada to New England. The Senate postponed action on the bill earlier this year. Senators on both sides agreed the bill was flawed. Though the bill was designed to change state procedures to take land by eminent domain, debate often focused on the Northern Pass project that inspired the measure. Under the House-passed bill, public utilities could not ask the state for permission to take private land to build...

The City of Boston is taking a pair of buildings by eminent domain to expand a planned municipal office complex in Roxbury's Dudley Square. Yesterday, officials said they will take buildings at 2304 and 2326 Washington St. to provide more space for the relocation of the Boston School Department. The structures are adjacent to the Ferdinand Building, a long-vacant department store the city is spending $115 million to renovate for the school headquarters. The acquisitions will allow for the redevelopment of an entire block in the heart of Dudley Square, where Mayor Thomas M. Menino has...

Even with strip-mall vacancies at their highest level in decades, the lack of businesses at Framingham's Mt. Wayte Plaza is striking. Its expanse of vacant storefronts is broken by only a few tenants, like the St. Vincent de Paul Society's thrift store and a barbershop, while a deserted gas station and photo-processing booth languish in the parking lot. None of the buildings look like they've been updated in years. Some town officials say they are fed up with the vacancies at the plaza, at Mt. Wayte Avenue and Franklin Street near downtown, and a strip mall north of...

FRANKLIN, Vt. — Outraged by plans to seize land from a Vermont dairy farm to expand a little-used US-Canada border station, dozens of people turned out yesterday to berate US Customs and Border Protection representatives. Many attendees suggested that the station be closed instead. Toting signs that read “Eminent Domain Equals Federal Land Grab’’ and “Save the Rainville Family Farm,’’ about 150 people packed Franklin Town Hall, with about 18 standing up to speak — none in favor.

With ocean views and island charm, houses on Nantucket routinely top $1 million in value. So, it is no surprise that a dispute over a small parcel of land could make its way to the state's Supreme Judicial Court. Yesterday, the high court found in favor of a landowner who battled with the town over a 25,000-square-foot parcel near Nantucket Memorial Airport. The court found that William Devine is the rightful owner of the land, despite the fact that Nantucket took the property by eminent domain almost 40 years ago. The town argued that a ruling in favor of Devine could lead to challenges...