The Virginian-Pilot reports this morning that the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NRHA) will spend about $680,000 in legal fees for its failed attempt to condemn a property. The city had tried to obtain the property for $560,000 when the owner said the property and the business it was located on was worth $3 million.
NRHA has paid its own attorneys over $395,000. Because they lost the condemnation case, they are responsible for the property owner’s legal fees and costs. The court awarded them nearly $293,000 in February, which NRHA has been slow to pay.
This whole saga began when NRHA decided to help a private company, Mid Atlantic Coca Cola, acquire the property for a parking lot. Why NRHA got into this in the first place remains a mystery to me but the property owners had the sense to hire the best eminent domain law firm in the area – Waldo & Lyle.
I’ve seen what Joe Waldo can accomplish. And if I’ve seen it, no doubt the attorneys for NRHA have seen it, too. Perhaps they should have settled this thing before the legal bills exceeded what they were willing to pay for the property.
Is this – wasting resources – part of the reason our real estate taxes remain so high?
I think it’s kind of amusing that NHRA’s complaint about Judge Morrison’s order centers around the argument that Mr. Waldo and Mr. Lyle charged an unreasonable hourly rate for their services at $450/hr. I would imagine that after beating the pants off of the NHRA, the folks at C and C Real Estate and Downtown Used Auto Parts would agree that Waldo and Lyle are worth every penny.
Posted by anonymous | Friday, March 2, 2007, 12:46 pmI can’t wait to see the figure on how much was spent fighting Bay Oaks Park. Any numbers yet?
Posted by TRS | Friday, March 2, 2007, 6:31 pmanon – yeah
TRS – I haven’t seen any figures on it. But it’s got to be expensive.
Posted by vjp | Friday, March 2, 2007, 7:04 pm