Lipscomb: City could use eminent domain at Raleigh Springs Mall
“The City of Memphis hasn’t committed to using eminent domain to acquire Raleigh Springs Mall for a $66 million mixed-use redevelopment – but it could.
Robert Lipscomb, the city’s director of housing and community development, told me the city “cannot allow that blight to go any further” at the dilapidated mall in Raleigh, and that eminent domain could be used if the owner isn’t onboard with the project.
Mall representatives berated the city in May for not including the ownership group, operating as Raleigh Springs Mall LLC, in discussions about the redevelopment.
“We’ve talked to them,” Lipscomb told me. “But what is there to talk about? The property is blighted. They’ve not improved that property. And its speaks for itself, doesn’t it?””
Poe, Ryan. Memphis Business Journal 20 August 2014.