Commission OKs eminent domain
“Urban renewal commissioners signed off Tuesday on a resolution authorizing the use of eminent domain to acquire property needed to accommodate the development of a new shopping center.
Officials have been able to negotiate the acquisition of all but about 2 acres needed for the first retail development within the urban renewal project area. Tulsa-based Vector Securities plans to build a 102,537-square-foot retail shopping center on the 10.5-acre tract with a separate 6,700-square-foot restaurant.
City Attorney Roy Tucker said parcels already acquired — or ready to be — from private individuals have been bought at an average cost of $2 per square foot. The group that owns the remaining 2 acres wants $4 per square foot, but its principals will not sell those parcels unless urban renewal commissioners agree to buy all the land it owns within the project area at a cost of about $2.6 million.
An agent acting on behalf of the Muskogee Urban Renewal Authority was authorized earlier this month to offer $3.15 per square foot for the 190 parcels owned by the Reynolds Group. Tucker said Reynolds rejected the counter-offer and a discussions of a co-development plan emerged, but commissioners feared it might set a precedent and put them at a disadvantage.”
Smoot, D.E. Muskogee Phonix 1 October 2014.