by Jeff Smith
Biz Journals Washington
Expansion plans?
Expansion plans?
Amtrak forced to defend decision to condemn a Northeast D.C. office building
Amtrak has condemned a commercial office building in Northeast D.C. as it gears up for a major expansion project at Union Station nearby — and the move has left the property's owner crying foul.
That's because Amtrak gave what the building's owner considers an overly vague reason for using eminent domain to take the roughly 113,000-square foot Railway Express building at 900 Second St. NE along with an adjacent lot. Both are located next to the railroad tracks just north of Union Station. Fluorine LLC argues in new court filings that the $35 million Amtrak offered for the property before filing for eminent domain was less than the income-generating office building is worth and that Amtrak has failed to show it had the legal authority to take it.
The dispute comes as Amtrak is planning a major overhaul of Union Station designed to increase capacity and speed for the southern-most stop in its busy Northeast Corridor. The D.C.-based rail service provider claims in court documents it needs the building and adjacent land to support that work. The rail service needs to acquire the roughly 3.4 acres of land to ensure it has access to more than 40 electrical and communication easements tied to the property as well as an electrical substation on the property.
Amtrak Deputy General Counsel Dennis Moore, in a condemnation complaint he filed July 13 with the U.S. District Court in D.C., also claimed Amtrak needed to take ownership of the property to ensure its continued access to the adjacent rail lines "and other railroad facilities, space for additional railroad personnel and activities relating to growing rail ridership, construction staging, utility placement and flexibility, the placement of electrical substations, movement of the existing substation, resources and other reconstruction, repair, rehabilitation and repurposing efforts."
Next stop, Willoughby
~el Jefe :: RAILROAD.NET Site Administrator/Co-Owner; Carman at Naugatuck Railroad
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~el Jefe :: RAILROAD.NET Site Administrator/Co-Owner; Carman at Naugatuck Railroad
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