The Gateway Expressway Is Complete: What Pinellas County Owners Can Still Recover

The Gateway Expressway is finished. FDOT confirms that as of June 30, 2025, all construction activities were complete, more than a year after the express lanes opened to drivers.

For most of Pinellas County that closed the story. For owners along 118th Avenue North, Roosevelt Boulevard, and the Ulmerton Road interchange, a finished road is not the same as a closed file. Some claims only become visible once the structure is up, the traffic patterns have changed, and the first heavy rain arrives.

This article explains what the project was, what claims survive its completion, and what Florida law entitles you to if the state took part of your land or changed the conditions around it. When the state comes calling, Jimerson Birr stands with Florida owners as the firm that treats eminent domain as a core practice, not a sideline.

What Was the Gateway Expressway, and Is It Still Acquiring Land?

A $622 million tolled roadway system connecting US 19, Interstate 275, and the Bayside Bridge across central Pinellas County. It is complete, and no acquisition program remains.

According to the FDOT project page, construction began in August 2017, the express lanes opened to drivers on April 26, 2024, and as of June 30, 2025 all construction activities were completed.

The project built two new tolled expressways. SR 690 is a four-lane tolled connection from US 19 to west of I-275, built in the median of existing 118th Avenue North and elevated over portions of 118th Avenue North, 49th Street North, and other cross streets. SR 686A connects the Bayside Bridge to I-275. The work added an interchange at Ulmerton Road and passed through the former Sunshine Speedway property.

If a state agent contacts you about Gateway Expressway property today, that is unusual enough to warrant a call before you respond. The more common situation now is an owner with a problem and nobody asking about it.

What Claims Survive a Completed Road Project?

Four, and the first is specific to how this corridor was built.

1. Damage Without a Taking

An elevated expressway built in the median of an existing commercial street changes conditions for the property on both sides of it, whether or not the state ever acquired an inch of that property.

Loss of visibility from an elevated structure, altered access and turning movements, changed drainage patterns, and construction-period vibration or settlement can all damage property the state never condemned. Where government action effectively takes or damages property without formal proceedings, Florida recognizes inverse condemnation. Our overview of inverse condemnation claims in Florida explains when the remedy applies.

Drainage deserves particular attention. New elevated pavement and reconfigured stormwater systems move water differently, and the parcel that turns out to be downhill of a new design often does not find out until a storm.

2. Compensation That Was Deposited but Never Finally Determined

Florida road projects proceed under quick-take. The agency deposits its estimate, the court enters an order of taking, title passes, and construction begins while the fight over value continues.

Owners routinely assume the deposit was the final award. It was the agency’s estimate. Full compensation is determined by negotiation, settlement, or a jury, and awards frequently exceed the deposit.

3. Unresolved Apportionment

Where a parcel carried a mortgage, a lease, or multiple owners, the award still has to be divided. That division can remain open long after the road opens, and it is where easements and restrictive covenants, boundary line disputes, and quiet title issues resurface.

4. A Tax Assessment That Never Came Down

A parcel that lost land, access, parking, or usability should not carry its pre-project assessed value. This one costs owners money quietly, every year, until someone raises it.

How Does Eminent Domain Work in Florida?

Eminent domain is the government’s power to take private property for a public use, so long as the owner receives full compensation. In Florida that power and its limits come from Article X, Section 6 of the Florida Constitution and from Chapter 73 of the Florida Statutes.

The process almost always begins the same way: the condemning authority has your property appraised, then sends a written offer. That first written offer is where owners gain or lose the most. To understand the sequence from first contact through a jury trial on value, review our overview of the eminent domain process for Florida commercial property owners. If you are unsure whether what you received qualifies as a taking, our explanation of eminent domain versus condemnation clears up the terminology.

What Is the Quick-Take Process?

Quick-take lets the government take title and possession before the final compensation amount is decided. Most Florida road projects, including this one, proceed under Chapter 74 of the Florida Statutes. The condemning authority deposits its estimate of value with the court, obtains an order of taking, and can begin construction while you continue to fight for the true value of what was taken.

Quick-take does not mean you lose your right to full compensation. It means the clock moves faster and the case does not end when the bulldozers arrive.

What Does Full Compensation Mean in Florida?

Being put in the same financial position you would have occupied if the taking had never happened, which is a broader standard than the federal “just compensation” requirement. Our article on what just compensation means for Florida homeowners breaks it down in plain terms.

Severance Damages and Cost to Cure

When the state takes only part of your parcel, the remainder often loses value, and severance damages compensate you for that loss. Under section 73.071, Florida Statutes, if a taking eliminates parking, restricts access, or leaves an oddly shaped remnant, the drop in value to what is left can dwarf the value of the strip actually acquired.

On this corridor that matters. A commercial parcel fronting a street that now has an elevated expressway down its median is a different property than it was in 2017. Our detailed treatment is at severance damages in Florida, and related layout problems overlap with complex real property improvement issues requiring careful appraisal and engineering review.

Business Damages: Florida’s Rare Protection

Florida is one of a handful of states that lets business owners recover business damages when a partial taking harms an ongoing business on the property. The statute requires an established business of more than five years’ standing at the location, and the claim must be pleaded with accounting support within the statutory deadline.

If a road project cut off the visibility or access your business depended on, those losses may be recoverable on top of land value. We explain how this works in our guide to Florida eminent domain business damages. It is one of the most overlooked sources of value for commercial owners along corridors like this one.

Who Pays for Your Attorney in a Florida Eminent Domain Case?

In a filed Florida eminent domain case, the condemning authority generally pays your reasonable attorney’s fees. Under Section 73.092 of the Florida Statutes, fees are awarded based on the benefits achieved, meaning the difference between the government’s last written offer before you hired counsel and the final judgment or settlement. The schedule awards 33 percent of any benefit up to $250,000, 25 percent between $250,000 and $1 million, and 20 percent above $1 million.

One limit worth stating: that fee-shifting operates inside a condemnation proceeding. A voluntary sale that never became a filed case does not carry the same statutory entitlement. Within a filed case, there is little financial reason to face the state alone.

What Mistakes Do Pinellas County Owners Make Most Often?

The most common and costly is treating the state’s offer as final, or assuming a completed project means a closed file. Others include:

• Missing the short deadlines that follow an order of taking
• Overlooking business damages, or pleading them without accounting support
• Failing to document access and visibility before construction changed the site
• Accepting an appraisal that ignores the highest and best use of the property
• Assuming that because no land was taken, no claim exists
• Never revisiting the tax assessment on a diminished parcel

Owners also sometimes confuse an outright taking with related title, access, and encumbrance problems, each of which affects what a property is worth. For owners weighing whether a project itself is a lawful public use, see our discussion of eminent domain for private infrastructure projects.

What Should You Do Now?

If your property was taken, or if conditions changed after construction, the steps are the same.

• Compare current conditions to pre-project conditions. Old surveys, insurance photos, and aerial imagery establish the baseline. Document drainage, access, sight lines, and parking as they exist today.
• Confirm whether your case actually closed. If land was taken, find out whether compensation was finally determined or only deposited, and whether apportionment was completed.
• Watch the water. Standing water, altered flow, or erosion that appeared after the corridor opened is evidence, and it is easiest to prove while it is happening.
• Pull your tax assessment. A diminished parcel should not carry its old value.
• Preserve your business records. More than five years of operating history supports a damages claim.

Florida law gives owners real tools, as we outline in legal strategies Florida homeowners can use to fight eminent domain. The Legislature has also expanded state condemnation authority in recent years, and our summary of Florida’s newer eminent domain rules explains what changed. For how these principles play out in another Florida market, see our approach to eminent domain issues for Orlando commercial property owners.

How Does Jimerson Birr Help Florida Property Owners?

Jimerson Birr represents Florida property owners from the state’s first written offer through settlement or trial, and we treat eminent domain as a core part of our real estate practice. Our attorneys handle valuation disputes, severance and business damage claims, order-of-taking hearings, inverse condemnation claims, and fee recovery, and we bring the same depth to owners across the Tampa Bay region that we bring statewide.

Learn more about our work on eminent domain and condemnation issues and the broader industry experience we offer clients in real estate development and construction.

Once construction ends, nobody is knocking on doors anymore. The owner with a drainage problem, an unfinished compensation file, or a parcel that never got its assessment corrected has to raise it.

If the Gateway Expressway affected your property, or you are not certain your file ever actually closed, contact Jimerson Birr for a review of your rights. Browse our guidance in the Florida commercial real estate and land use law blog.