City seeks hearing on condemnation

Pat Kimbrough, The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
·1 min read

Dec. 10—HIGH POINT — The city has asked a judge to clear the way for it to proceed with plans for a new downtown parking deck.

Attorneys with Fox Rothschild of Greensboro who were hired by the city have asked that a hearing be scheduled for Feb. 6 in the condemnation case involving Piedmont Electric Repair Co.

The city is trying to seize the N. Lindsay Street property where this business sits by eminent domain in order to provide more public parking in the downtown area.

Attorneys for PERCO are pushing back, arguing in court filings that the city is attempting to take their client's property to benefit the private development of the neighboring Congdon Yards campus instead of for a public purpose, as required by law.

In its reply, the city denies this charge and asks that the defendant's counterclaims be dismissed.

It's also asking that PERCO's request for an injunction that would prevent the city from taking the property by eminent domain go before a judge.

The city has been trying to condemn the property since May 2022, after unsuccessfully attempting to purchase it from the owner.

The law allows governments to take private property for public use as long as just compensation is paid, which the city has deemed to be $985,000 in this case.