INDIANAPOLIS — A developer is suing the city of Indianapolis accusing them of breaching their contract by trying to use eminent domain to take back the old GM Stamping Plant property downtown.
Ambrose had originally planned to redevelop the 100-acre site into the $1.4 billion Waterside mixed-use development, but in September Ambrose announced it would not pursue that particular project any further and would try to offload the property.
The city then threatened to use eminent domain to take the property back. Ambrose said the move by the city violated a contract between the two in which the city agreed not to try and resume the property through eminent domain.
“That provision was in the contract because the City had previously threatened to take the property, and we needed assurance the City would not try to take it again,” Ambrose said in a statement Tuesday. “Accordingly, the contract protected us from the City trying to take the land. Based on that promise, we invested millions in the redevelopment of the property.”
In a letter sent to Ambrose from the Office of Mayor Joe Hogsett they city said there was no violation and that a previous ruling by the State Supreme Court allows the city to use eminent domain to resume properties “at-will” adding that all contracts are “subordinate” to eminent domain whenever it is necessary.
The letter added that “while the city’s agreement that it will not pursue eminent domain is useful as far as it goes, binding precedent confirms that the city may use its power of eminent domain ‘at will’.”
When the two sides met in October, Ambrose CEO Aasif Bade said the city offered to purchase the property for $6 million, which he claimed was “far below its current market value” of more than $65 million.
(PHOTO: BrianaJackson/Thinkstock)
