Historically, the power of eminent domain has been exercised to
facilitate the construction of large public projects such as
highways and railroads, schools and housing developments, to
name a few.  Eminent domain has been used to clear blighted
areas in cities to make way for redevelopment. More recently,
the power has also been used to enable municipalities to clear
the way for economic redevelopment projects, such as new
shopping centers. Indeed, the decision in Kelo v. City of New
London, a case that went before the United States Supreme Court
in 2004, set a precedent for property to be transferred to a
private owner for the purpose of economic redevelopment.  The
court found that if an economic project creates new jobs,
increases city revenue and revitalizes a depressed or blighted
urban area, that project qualifies as a public use.  “Eminent
domain is the power of the state to appropriate an individual
citizen’s property for the benefit of the citizenry,” says Jay
Levitch, a partner with The Stolar Part