Palmetto Expressway Between Coral Way and NW 25th Street: Partial Takings in Miami-Dade

FDOT has put real money behind the next round of work on the Palmetto Expressway, and the stretch between Coral Way and NW 25th Street is the piece carrying right-of-way dollars.

Design is funded for Fiscal Year 2027. Land acquisition is funded for Fiscal Years 2030 and 2031. That gap is the window Miami-Dade owners should be using.

Has FDOT Started Taking Land on This Segment?

Not according to the work program. The right-of-way phases for this segment are not funded to begin until Fiscal Year 2030.

FDOT’s adopted Five-Year Work Program for Fiscal Years 2027 through 2031, adopted July 1, 2026, carries this stretch as item 455134-1, SR 826/Palmetto Expressway from north of Coral Way/SW 24th Street to south of NW 25th Street.

Its item status reads “ADOPTED, NOT BEGUN.”

The item immediately south reads differently. Item 455134-2, SR 826/Palmetto Expressway from north of Miller Drive to north of Coral Way, is carried at status “ROW ACQUISITION BEG.”

Acquisition has begun on the adjoining item south of Coral Way, and the work program budgets right-of-way money for this segment starting in Fiscal Year 2030.

For the corridor-wide view, see our overview of the Palmetto Expressway (SR 826) expansion in Miami-Dade.

What Has FDOT Funded Between Coral Way and NW 25th Street?

About $36.8 million under item 455134-1, of which roughly $10.3 million is right-of-way money.

The adopted work program breaks the item down like this:

• Design, or preliminary engineering, Fiscal Year 2027: $26,550,000
• Right-of-way purchase, Fiscal Year 2030: $1,125,000
• Right-of-way purchase, Fiscal Year 2031: $8,055,464
• Right-of-way services and consultants, Fiscal Years 2030 and 2031: $1,100,000
• Relocation, Fiscal Year 2030: $10,927

Two other items overlap these limits: $7,150,000 of design money under item 455134-3 for Flagler Street to SR 836, and $4,500,000 of corridor design support under item 455134-6.

Now read the relocation line against the purchase line. Roughly $9.2 million to buy land, and under $11,000 to move anyone.

That mix is consistent with strip acquisitions off the frontage rather than whole-parcel displacements, which is the textbook partial taking.

A taking that leaves every building standing can still cut what a property is worth, and that loss is compensable only if it is documented and valued.

What Is FDOT Planning to Build Here?

Additional lanes. FDOT’s description for item 455134-1 states the work consists of corridor improvements from north of Coral Way/SW 24 Street to south of NW 25 Street, with the primary purpose of adding lanes to meet future demand.

That item sits inside FDOT District Six’s SR 826/Palmetto Expressway South PD&E Study, covering SR 826 from US 1/SR 5/Dixie Highway to NW 25th Street.

The study held its public hearing on March 2, 2026. FDOT’s published schedule sets Location Design Concept Acceptance, the end of the study, for June 2026.

The preferred alternative, Alternative 4A, adds a travel lane in each direction between US 1 and SR 836, plus an express lane in each direction between SR 874 and SR 836.

Coral Way sits inside both sets of limits. The portion of this segment north of SR 836 does not, which is why the work program item, not the study map, is the document to watch.

What Does Florida Pay for in a Partial Taking?

The land taken, plus what losing that land does to everything you keep.

Under section 73.071, Florida Statutes, a jury determines the value of the property appropriated. Where less than the entire property is sought, it also determines any damages to the remainder caused by the taking.

Severance Damages to the Remainder

Severance damages capture the drop in value to what you still own.

On a corridor like this, that means lost parking, shortened drive aisles, truck maneuvering room that no longer works, altered access, and signage pushed back from the road.

We cover the mechanics in severance damages in Florida and in what happens to access, parking, and other business-critical features in a taking.

The Enhancement Offset, and Its Two Limits

In a road right-of-way condemnation by FDOT, a county, a municipality, a board, a district, or another public body, section 73.071(4) offsets enhancement in the value of your remaining adjoining property, caused by the improvement itself, against damages to that remainder.

Two limits favor the owner. That enhancement cannot be offset against the value of the property appropriated, and if it exceeds the remainder damages, there is no recovery over against the owner for the excess.

Appraisals that blur those categories are among the common deficiencies in eminent domain appraisals on FDOT projects.

Do Business Damages Apply on This Stretch?

They can, and this is the fact pattern the statute was written for.

Section 73.071(3)(b) makes business damages available when all of these line up:

1. Less than the entire property is taken, meaning a partial taking.
2. The condemnor is FDOT, a county, a municipality, a board, a district, or another public body condemning a right-of-way.
3. The effect of the taking may damage or destroy an established business of more than five years’ standing, for takings on or after January 1, 2005, or of more than four years’ standing before that date.
4. The business is owned by the party whose land is taken and sits on adjoining land owned or held by that party.

What the statute pays is the probable damages the denial of the use of the property taken may reasonably cause. Our primer on business damages under section 73.071 walks through the proof.

The deadline is where these claims die. Under section 73.015, Florida Statutes, a business owner has 180 days after receiving FDOT’s notice, or after the notice is returned undeliverable, to submit a good faith written offer to settle business damage claims.

That 180-day clock runs from the notice, not from the lawsuit.

What Must FDOT Do Before It Files Suit?

Negotiate in good faith, put an offer in writing, and give you time and information to evaluate it.

Section 73.015 requires the condemning authority to negotiate in good faith and give the fee owner a written offer before filing, to allow at least 30 days after the notice to respond, and to produce the appraisal behind the offer within 15 business days of a request.

Request that appraisal every time. It reveals whether severance damages and cost to cure were valued at all.

Read our guide to accepting an FDOT offer and, when suit comes, how to read an order of taking.

Who Pays Your Attorney Fees, and Does Settling Early Cost You That?

The condemning authority generally pays, and settling before suit does not forfeit the entitlement.

Section 73.092, Florida Statutes awards fees on the compensation claim based solely on benefits achieved, meaning the difference, excluding interest, between the final judgment or settlement and the last written offer the condemning authority made before that defendant hired an attorney.

The schedule is 33 percent of any benefit up to $250,000, 25 percent of the portion between $250,000 and $1 million, and 20 percent above $1 million.

Section 73.015(4) extends that structure to presuit settlements. An owner who settles compensation claims in lieu of condemnation is entitled to recover costs and attorney’s fees, calculated the same way unless the parties agree otherwise.

Fees for defeating an order of taking, for apportionment, or for other supplemental proceedings are assessed separately under section 73.092(2). Before negotiating anything, understand the difference between eminent domain and condemnation.

What Should Owners Do Between Now and Fiscal Year 2030?

Build the record while the corridor still looks the way it does today.

1. Photograph frontage, parking counts, drive aisles, signage, and drainage now, before design changes anything.
2. Pull your survey, site plan, and access permits, and confirm where your line sits relative to existing right of way.
3. Start the five-year business file. Tax returns and location-specific revenue records support a business damages claim later.
4. Confirm entitlements. Zoning, density, and vested rights drive highest and best use, which puts land use and zoning analysis squarely in this stage.
5. Check the condemnation clause in your commercial lease. Tenants and landlords divide proceeds by contract.
6. Watch the work program, not the news. When Fiscal Year 2030 right-of-way money moves or grows, acquisition is close.
7. Have counsel review any FDOT contact before you respond.

For ongoing coverage, follow our commercial real estate and land use blog and our real estate development and construction practice.

Talk to Jimerson Birr Before FDOT’s First Offer

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 and publish what we find, so you can walk into the first meeting with the funding record in hand.

We have done that work statewide, from Kendall Parkway and the Krome Avenue widening to I-95 at Broward Boulevard, and we track the major FDOT projects in South Florida.

If your property sits between Coral Way and NW 25th Street, contact our eminent domain and condemnation attorneys for a parcel review. Our Florida eminent domain practice page covers the condemnation process for commercial property owners.