Over the last week, final legal decisions were handed down clearing the way for the sale of the remaining property of a lone boarded up house in the middle of prime real estate waiting to be developed into a new shopping center. The property, next to Rookwood Commons was a boarded up single family house which sold for $1.2 million dollars.

Developers wanted to build Rookwood Exchange — a $125 million complex of offices, shops, condominiums, apartments, restaurants and a parking garage — across the street from Rookwood Commons.  After a five year legal battle, many of the retailers have found other locations.

At the heart of this debate is the concept of eminent domain and what constitutes “public use”. Should a private developer be able to invoke this power to compel property owners to sell their land against their will? Or should eminent domain be enacted for only public works or government projects? Traditionally, governmental bodies can take land by eminent domain for public uses or invoke it over areas deemed blighted. The Ohio Supreme Court recently ruled that economic development by a private company does not constitute grounds for invoking eminent domain.