Explainer: Eminent Domain
“The Sam Houston State University and local business owner Tarek Maalouf have been embroiled in a battle over the former Army Reserve Building on South Sam Houston Avenue, which Maalouf is buying from the city of Huntsville.
The Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a booklet on eminent domain that the first step any entity that wants a property is to bid on it during the open bidding process. SHSU did not bid on the property per emails obtained by the Huntsville Item.
“As I have mentioned to both of you, the university is quite surprised to hear that the city solicited bids for this property without notifying the university,” SHSU Vice President of Finance and Operations Al Hooten wrote in an email to Mayor Mac Woodward and City Manager Matt Benoit.
In fact, emails prior to the bidding process closing shows Hooten inquiring about the price of the property.
Once a bid has been closed and the ink dried on the property sale agreement, as is with the Maalouf property, the university would have to make good faith, or bona fide, offers to Maalouf to persuade him to sell the property without legal action.”
Huntsville 18 August 2013.