I-95 at Broward Boulevard: What Fort Lauderdale Owners Are Owed for a Partial Taking

FDOT has put land-buying money on the books at the I-95 at Broward Boulevard interchange more than a decade before the first lane is scheduled to be built. The offer conversation starts long before the construction fencing shows up, and the record you build during it is what any later valuation gets argued from.

A partial taking at an interchange is rarely about the strip of dirt, and almost always about what happens to the property you keep.

Is FDOT Still Acquiring Land at I-95 at Broward Boulevard?

Yes. FDOT’s status for the interchange item reads “right-of-way acquisition begun,” and purchase dollars are programmed across four separate fiscal years. In the adopted five-year work program covering July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2031, item 435513-1, SR-9/I-95 at SR-842/Broward Boulevard, carries nearly $17.9 million across all right-of-way phases.

The purchase money alone:

• About $9.1 million in fiscal year 2027
• $500,000 in fiscal year 2029
• About $6.2 million in fiscal year 2030
• About $1.1 million in fiscal year 2031

The item also carries $465,000 in a separate relocation phase, plus services and consultant lines. Construction is not scheduled before 2038, so acquisition here runs years ahead of the shovels.

FDOT’s Florida Interchange Portal describes the purpose as improving traffic flow to and from I-95 and along Broward Boulevard, connectivity between the 95 Express Lanes and Broward Boulevard, and intermodal connectivity. FDOT’s description of item 435513-1 adds the specifics: widening and resurfacing the SR-842 bridges over I-95 and over the rail corridor and park and ride lot, a diverging diamond layout, and realigned park and ride ramps for an express lane direct connect.

Jimerson Birr represents Florida property and business owners in condemnation matters brought by the state, counties, municipalities, and utilities. We research corridor projects at the work program item level, the same way we trace right-of-way phases on other FDOT corridors, so you walk into the first meeting knowing how your project is funded and scheduled.

What Does FDOT Have to Pay for a Partial Taking?

Under section 73.071, Florida Statutes, the jury determines the value of the property taken and, where less than the entire property is taken, any damages to the remainder caused by the taking. That second category, severance damages, is where interchange projects do their real financial damage, and a first appraisal can undervalue it. The frontage strip may appraise modestly while the loss to the remainder runs several times higher.

What Kinds of Interchange Impacts Show Up as Severance Damages?

Ramp realignments and bridge widenings change how a site works, not just how large it is. Common drivers:

1. A driveway moved, narrowed, or closed, the classic access and parking impact
2. Lost parking that puts the site below its own code requirement
3. A turning movement that no longer works for delivery trucks
4. Changed grade, drainage, or sight lines at the property line
5. A temporary construction easement over parking or loading during the build, compensable in its own right and easy to undervalue

Can the State Offset the Benefit of the Improvement?

Yes, but only against remainder damages. Where a public body condemns a road, canal, levee, or water control facility right of way, section 73.071(4) offsets enhancement in the value of the remaining adjoining property against the damage to that remainder. The offset never reduces the value of the property actually appropriated, and the state cannot recover from you when the enhancement exceeds the damage.

Section 73.071(5) cuts both ways. A value change occurring after the project’s scope is known in the market, and resulting solely from knowledge of the project location, is excluded from the valuation.

Can a Business at the Interchange Claim Business Damages?

A business can claim probable business damages, but only if it clears every statutory element. Under section 73.071(3)(b), the claim requires:

1. A partial taking rather than a taking of the entire parcel
2. A public condemnor, such as FDOT, a county, or a municipality, acquiring a right of way
3. The same party owning both the land taken and the business
4. The business on adjoining lands owned or held by that party
5. An established business of more than five years’ standing for a taking on or after January 1, 2005
6. The claim pleaded in the owner’s written defenses

The older four-year threshold still circulates, and which threshold applies turns on the date of the taking rather than on anything about the business. Standing runs from the date the business was established to the date of the taking, and because the statute says more than five years, exactly five years does not clear it.

If a right-of-way agent has contacted you, talk with our eminent domain team before you respond in writing.

What Deadlines Start When the Notice Arrives?

Four clocks start with the notice, not with the lawsuit: a 30-day response window, a 15-business-day document production, a 180-day business damage offer, and a 120-day authority response. Under section 73.015, Florida Statutes, the presuit sequence works like this:

• At least 30 days after receipt of the notice, or after it is returned undeliverable, before suit can be filed
• On written request, the appraisal report within 15 business days, plus right-of-way maps and construction plans to the extent prepared, and additional plan sheets within 15 days
• A business damage claimant’s good faith written settlement offer within 180 days of that same trigger, unless the parties agree to a later date, prepared by the owner, a CPA, or a business damage expert familiar with the business
• The authority’s response within 120 days after receiving that offer and the business records, where both a rejection and silence are deemed a counteroffer of zero dollars

The right-of-way maps are usually the most useful document in that list, because they show what is actually being taken rather than what the agent describes.

Neither the 30-day window nor the first written offer is a ceiling. Owners who know what to weigh before accepting an offer treat that number as an opening position.

Who Pays for Your Lawyer and Your Accountant?

Florida’s condemnation statutes require the condemning authority to pay the owner’s reasonable attorney’s fees, measured by what the lawyer adds. Under section 73.092, Florida Statutes, and except as that section and section 73.015 otherwise provide, fees are awarded solely on the benefits achieved, meaning the difference, exclusive of interest, between the final judgment or settlement and the condemning authority’s last written offer before you hired an attorney. The schedule runs 33 percent of benefits up to $250,000, 25 percent between $250,000 and $1 million, and 20 percent above $1 million.

Recoverable costs include reasonable appraisal fees and, where business damages are compensable, a reasonable accountant’s fee. Entitlement still depends on the outcome and the court’s determination.

Because that baseline locks in at the last written offer before counsel is retained, waiting to call a lawyer can shrink the fee the state owes without adding a dollar to your pocket. That is the practical case for handling the presuit phase with counsel involved.

What Should Fort Lauderdale Owners Do Before an Offer Arrives?

Document the site, preserve the business records, read the lease, learn how an order of taking works, and watch for damage that occurs without a taking. Each is cheaper and more effective before suit is filed, because filing shifts leverage to the condemnor.

1. Document the site as it operates today. Parking use, delivery routes, and sign lines are hard to reconstruct later.
2. Preserve business records. Tax returns, balance sheets, and profit and loss statements support both the business damages claim and the accountant’s fee.
3. Read the lease. A condemnation clause can assign the whole award to the landlord or preserve the tenant’s claim, so review it with your other commercial lease terms.
4. Learn how an order of taking works. The quick-take procedure lets the department take title on deposit, and objections not raised are waived.
5. Watch for damage without a taking. Construction that permanently destroys reasonable access or redirects drainage can support an inverse condemnation claim even where no parcel is condemned.

What Else Is Buying Land in Broward County?

Two other Broward items carry the same “right-of-way acquisition begun” status in the same adopted program. Item 435808-3 covers the I-95 ramps at Commercial Boulevard, the frontage road, and North Andrews Avenue, with about $4.4 million of purchase money and a work program note that right of way is needed. Item 436964-1, on I-95 from south of SW 10th Street to north of Hillsboro Boulevard, carries a funded relocation phase in fiscal years 2027 and 2028.

Owners tracking corridor work elsewhere in South Florida can compare the funded Turnpike widening program against the Palmetto Expressway expansion in Miami-Dade, where right of way is only partially funded and no parcels have been identified.

Talk With Jimerson Birr About Your Broward Boulevard Property

If FDOT has contacted you about property near the interchange, talk with counsel before you respond to the offer.

Jimerson Birr represents Florida property owners, businesses, tenants, and developers in condemnation and compensation disputes. Our eminent domain and real estate development and construction teams read the offer, the right-of-way maps, the lease, and the appraisal together, because each pays for something different. Start with our eminent domain FAQs, the business damages explainer if you operate on the frontage, or our land use and permitting and commercial real estate teams if the reconfigured site raises those questions.