Brentwood blight: How a Supreme Court case allowed governments to seize property on behalf of developersAs fireworks burst in the sky on Independence Day 2018, Roxanne and Carter Maier were putting in yet another grueling 14-hour day of remodeling a former doctor's office into a dance studio in Brentwood, a small suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.
"This is the last time we're doing this," the husband and wife team told each other multiple times throughout the move to their new location. Sweat poured down their faces as they ripped industrial carpet away from the concrete floor. They invested about $100,000 and countless hours renovating the building with the hopes of eventually purchasing it.
But just a few years later, the city declared a strip of businesses — including the Maiers' — and small industrial buildings blighted. It moved to hand over the land to a private developer in a $436 million deal that seeks to use eminent domain to force out existing property owners and replace them with apartments, a hotel, office space, a microbrewery and stores.
The developer behind the project estimated it would generate more than $266 million in new revenue over the next 25 years.....
........A 2005 Supreme Court ruling allowed cities like Brentwood to seize property in the name of economic development.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/brentwood-blight-supreme-court-case-allowed-governments-seize-property-behalf-developers
