NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A jury has ruled against the city in a high profile
eminent domain case involving the MusicCityCenter
property. The jury's decision could bust the budget for the new MusicCityCenter and the adjacent
Omni Hotel.
A jury awarded Tower Investments more than $30 million on
Friday. Tower owns the parking lot property on which at least part of the Omni
hotel will be built. Metro offered $14.8 million for the land, which it
claimed was "fair market value."
But Tower sued, and will receive more than double Metro's
offer.
Late Friday, MDHA spokeswoman Julie Oaks issued this
statement: "We maintain that our original offer for the parking lot
property owned by Tower Investments was a fair offer. Certainly, this is not
the outcome we felt the jury would reach. We continue to believe that this
property did not double in value in just three years. We will review the
decision and explore our options in this matter."
One of those options, according to Oaks, would be to appeal
the decision.