Purple Line
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Purple Line: State Making Offers to Property Owners; Construction Expected to Begin Spring 2016

Posted October 19, 2015 at 1:05 PM

Eminent Domain and Condemnation, Litigation, Purple Line Project

After Governor Hogan was elected last November he put the Purple Line project on hold pending a reconsideration of its cost and benefit. At the time the State was in the process of negotiating the acquisition of the real property that would be required for the project. Some properties had been purchased. Appraisals had been received and offers made on additional properties. And appraisals were in process on others still. Governor Hogan announced his decision to move forward with the Purple Line in June, but the stay had rendered many of the appraisals the State had obtained stale. Since June, the State has been awaiting updates of the appraisals on many properties in order to extend formal offers to purchase the properties. At the same time the State has been trying to negotiate voluntary acquisitions of the properties for which offers have had been made before the stay.
    
Timeline
The bids from the three concessionaires to build the Purple Line are due November 17, 2015. A concessionaire is expected to be chosen early in 2016 with construction to begin by late Spring 2016. The State needs to obtain control of the property needed for the project before construction begins. Consequently, the State needs to move forward promptly with its acquisition process.

What Owners Need to Know
Updated appraisals for those properties for which offers have not yet been made are coming in to the State. Such owners may expect to receive offers to purchase their properties at any time. It is important for owners to realize that they do not need to accept the offers. Often the offers do not reflect the full amount of compensation the owner is entitled to receive. For the properties for which offers were made before the Governor's stay, but for which voluntary sales have not been reached, the State is preparing to file formal condemnation petitions. The State expects the "first wave" of condemnation petitions to be filed before the end of the year. In addition, owners should expect the window for negotiations based on new updated appraisals to be narrow. Additional condemnations will be filed early next year if agreements are not reached.

The eminent domain attorneys at Miller, Miller & Canby will review any offer made by the State without charge to determine whether we believe you may be entitled to greater compensation than has been offered by the State.  If you are interested in a no obligation review of your case, or if you have any questions about your rights or the condemnation process, please call our office at 301-762-5212 and ask to speak with one of our eminent domain attorneys, Jim Thompson or Joe Suntum.  To learn more about our eminent domain and condemnation law practice and representative case, click here.
 

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