REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT FROM BEGINNING TO END: EMINENT DOMAIN

By Tracy Hunsaker Gilroy
The Gilroy Law Firm
231 South Bemiston, Suite 800
St. Louis, MO 63105
(314) 965-3536

1. What is Eminent Domain?

Power that enables government to take property, generally private property, for itself and for its delegates.

2. Power of Eminent Domain

a. Inherent in sovereign (legislature)

b. Power is set out in both federal and state constitutions

c.Must have public use and just compensation must be paid

d. Legislature may delegate eminent domain power to administrative bodies through statutes

e. Tax Increment Allocation Redevelopment Act (TIA)

i. Enacted mid-twentieth century because many Illinois cities were becoming rundown and blighted due to the Depression and a lack of new construction after World War II.

ii. TIA is a statutory scheme for municipalities to establish TIF districts

iii. TIA allows for condemnation of  properties located within designated redevelopment areas inside the TIF districts

iv. must be blighted or about to become blighted

v. redeveloped districts do not come back onto pre-redevelopment real estate tax roles for many years – the taxes saved by the developers are used to help finance the new development

vi. often, condemned property is immediately transferred from the condemning government entity to a private developer

vii. such a practice was sustained by the First Appellate District in 1991

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