The barren, rocky lot down an Alexandria, Virginia, alley doesn\u2019t look like much, but it\u2019s worth millions. Charlie Hooff\u2019s family owned the land for more than 40 years before the government decided to take it by eminent domain in order to expand operations for the Alexandria Sanitation Authority (ASA). Hooff had negotiated with the ASA years before, but when the parties couldn\u2019t reach a deal, Hooff decided to take it onto the open market. He says he had an offer in the neighborhood of $48 million, which evaporated once the government announced it would take the land. The ASA wound up offering Hooff $20.4 million, but he\u2019s refusing to accept that as final. \u201cThey are absolutely convinced they are going to steal this property,\u201d Hooff says, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s just not going to happen.\u201d Hooff points to the $48 million offer, along with appraisals he\u2019s contracted which he says put the value in the range of $44 to $51 million.<\/p>\n
The ASA maintains it negotiated in good faith and that it followed state law by hiring an independent, professional real estate appraiser who set the $20.4 million price tag. The agency adds, \u201cAs a responsible steward of public funds, ASA has not agreed to pay more than the appraised value of the property.” Although the ASA now owns the land, the battle over how much it will pay for the parcel is far from over. Hooff is waging a legal battle in the Virginia court system, but concedes even a win won\u2019t give him everything he thinks the land is worth. \u201cThe process is flawed from the very get go because even in the best of circumstances the landowner never really gets his full measure,\u201d according to Hooff.<\/p>\n
In Virginia, property owners already start at a disadvantage because their attorneys\u2019 fees aren\u2019t covered. Real estate lawyer Paul Terpak says that discourages most landowners from fighting back. \u201cThe toughest case is a relatively small taking from a regular person,\u201d according to Terpak. He gives the example of a government project that knocks down a tree someone\u2019s grandfather planted in their front yard. \u201cHow much can those people fight over a $30,000 issue,\u201d Terpak asks. He adds, \u201cCan they pay $10,000 for an appraisal when they\u2019re in a very tough situation?\u201d Terpak also notes that the tough economic climate can make government entities more aggressive than they might otherwise be because they are \u201cmore driven by budgets than by fairness.\u201d<\/p>\n
One bright spot for Virginia landowners who decide to go to court: their juries must be made up of property owners. Terpak says, in his experience, landowners tend to find a sympathetic audience in the courtroom, and often feel vindicated by the final compromises reached there. Hooff plans to make the most of his May trial, saying, \u201cI\u2019ve been fighting with this city for all of my life, and they\u2019re my most favorite enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The barren, rocky lot down an Alexandria, Virginia, alley doesn\u2019t look like much, but it\u2019s worth millions. Charlie Hooff\u2019s family owned the land for more than 40 years before the government decided to take it by eminent domain in order to expand operations for the Alexandria Sanitation Authority (ASA). Hooff had negotiated with the ASA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4741,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-376546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4741"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}