Eminent domain is possibility for soccer site, D.C. official says

“A top District official reiterated Wednesday that the city is prepared to seize land in court to build a new soccer stadium after questions emerged over the ownership of a key plot needed for the project backed by Mayor Vincent C. Gray and D.C. United’s owners.

City Administrator Allen Y. Lew said the District was ready to exercise eminent domain should it be unable to come to terms with the current owners of the proposed site. “That’s always out there, that the mayor has the power to do that,” he said at a news conference Wednesday. “We’d like to work this out in an amicable way.

Lew addressed the matter ­after WAMU (88.5 FM) reported Wednesday morning that the owners of Super Salvage, a scrap yard on the proposed soccer site, had not been approached about the deal. A company executive said in the report that the business was not inclined to move from its site, in the Buzzard Point area of Southwest Washington.””

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DeBonis, Mike and Jonathan O’Connell. Washington Post 7 August 2013.