SR 528 Eminent Domain Between Industry Road and SR 3: Relocation and Business Damages on the Space Coast

SR 528 eminent domain is not a future problem for Space Coast business owners. The Florida Department of Transportation is acquiring right of way now on the segment from east of SR 524 (Industry Road) to east of SR 3 (North Courtenay Parkway), with money programmed through fiscal year 2029. If your building, parking lot, or driveway sits along that stretch, the decisions that determine what you are paid are being made now.

Is FDOT Still Acquiring Land on SR 528 Between Industry Road and SR 3?

Yes. The right of way phase is open, funded, and ongoing. FDOT project 407402-3 carries the work program status “ROW ACQUISITION BEG.,” and the phase began in late 2023. The project page confirms the corridor remains in design with acquisition under way, and that affected owners are contacted directly.

The 3.719-mile segment widens SR 528 from four lanes to six, rebuilds the interchanges at US 1 and SR 3, reconstructs the Indian River bridge, and adds a shared-use trail, running from Cocoa onto Merritt Island. Interchange reconstruction matters most to a commercial operator, because rebuilt ramps and medians change how customers and trucks reach you.

What FDOT Has Budgeted for the SR 528 Taking

The adopted work program shows roughly $7 million of right of way money on this one segment, including a line item specifically for relocating occupants. These figures come from the FDOT Adopted Work Program dated 07/01/2026, item 407402-3, Brevard County.

A funded relocation line is the clearest signal that FDOT expects to displace occupants, not just shave a strip of frontage. The prior adopted program carried $4,928,014 of purchase money and $252,808 of relocation money in FY2026, so this is a continuing acquisition, not a new one.

The adjacent segment east toward the Port Canaveral interchange, item 407402-4, began its own right of way phase in late 2025 and carries about $1.4 million of purchase money with no relocation line. Businesses on either side of North Courtenay Parkway are on different clocks.

Why a Road With No Construction Date Is Buying Land Right Now

Neither SR 528 segment has a construction year in the adopted work program, yet both are buying land. FDOT estimates construction on the Industry Road to SR 3 segment at roughly $397 million and has not funded it. The state is acquiring the corridor first and will build when money allows.

You may be bought out years before any road work begins, which affects lease renewals, capital spending, and whether reinvesting makes sense. Section 73.071(5), Florida Statutes, also excludes any increase or decrease in value that occurs after the project’s scope is known in the market and that results solely from knowledge of the project location.

FDOT opened this phase in late 2023 under existing authority. Florida has since expressly authorized advance corridor acquisition, a 2025 change we covered in Florida’s new eminent domain rules for business owners. For how this corridor fits the wider program, see our roundup of major FDOT projects in Central Florida.

Relocation Assistance and Your Condemnation Award Are Two Separate Claims

Relocation benefits are administrative payments from the agency. They are not part of what a jury awards you. Section 73.071(3) tells the jury to determine three things and no more: the value of the property taken, damages to the remainder on a partial taking including business damages, and, for a mobile home owner, reasonable removal or relocation expenses capped at the replacement value of the home. Outside that narrow mobile home provision, moving costs are handled through the relocation program rather than by the jury.

Relocation assistance runs on the federal track at 49 C.F.R. Part 24, administered by FDOT. Current figures include actual reasonable moving expenses with no dollar cap, up to $5,000 in search expenses, and up to $33,200 in reestablishment expenses, which expressly excludes new building construction, capital assets, and inventory. A business that does not want to itemize may elect a fixed payment in lieu, between $1,000 and $53,200, based on average net earnings.

Owners lose money in the seam between these two systems, because an anti-duplication rule prevents recovering the same dollar twice. Our series covers: an introduction to business damages, calculating and proving them, and resolving the claim.

Do You Qualify for Business Damages on the Space Coast?

Section 73.071(3)(b) sets four conditions, and all four must be met. Business damages are available only when:

1. The taking is partial, not a whole-property acquisition.
2. The condemnor is a public body, including FDOT, a county, a municipality, a board, or a district, acquiring a right of way.
3. The business is an established business of more than five years’ standing, for any taking on or after January 1, 2005.
4. The business is owned by the party whose land is taken and sits on adjoining lands that same party owns or holds.

The January 1, 2005 date fixes which standard applies based on when the taking occurs. The five years of standing itself runs from the date the business was established to the date of the taking, so a business open less than five years does not qualify. The claim must be pleaded in your written defenses, which is where unrepresented owners most often forfeit it. Review the eminent domain process for Florida commercial property owners before the first offer arrives.

Access is the pressure point here. Rebuilt interchanges can leave a parcel intact while destroying the turning movement a business depends on, which we cover in what happens to access, parking, and other business-critical features in a taking.

The 180-Day Deadline That Ends a Business Damage Claim

You have 180 days from receiving FDOT’s business owner notice to submit a good faith written settlement offer, and a late claim can be struck. That deadline lives in section 73.015(2)(c), Florida Statutes, and runs from receipt of the notice or the date it comes back undeliverable, unless the parties agree to a later date.

The offer must be supported by records prepared by the owner, a certified public accountant, or a business damage expert familiar with how your business operates. The authority then has 120 days to respond, and silence is treated as a counteroffer of zero. Section 73.015(1)(b) separately gives you at least 30 days after receiving the presuit notice before the condemnation proceeding is filed.

Reviewing common mistakes business owners make in eminent domain proceedings early is cheaper than litigating a struck claim.

Who Pays for Your Lawyer and Your Accountant?

Florida shifts the owner’s attorney’s fees and costs to the condemning authority, with the fee calculated on the benefit counsel achieves above the authority’s offer. Section 73.092(1) awards fees based solely on the benefits achieved for the client, using a default schedule at section 73.092(1)(c) of 33 percent of any benefit up to $250,000, 25 percent of any portion between $250,000 and $1 million, and 20 percent above that. The schedule is a default, not a universal rule; section 73.092(1) opens with an exception for other provisions in that section and in section 73.015.

Costs are addressed at section 73.091(1), which names reasonable appraisal fees and, where business damages are compensable, a reasonable accountant’s fee.

Tenants have claims too. A commercial lease may allocate condemnation proceeds between landlord and tenant, and that language controls long before FDOT writes a check. Read your condemnation clause now. Our commercial leasing and real estate litigation teams handle apportionment fights, and owners rebuilding a remainder should plan for development permitting.

What Brevard County Owners Should Do Before the Offer Arrives

Start with documents, not negotiation. Request FDOT’s appraisal and the right of way maps, calendar the 30-day and 180-day dates from the day each notice arrives, and pull five years of financials for a business damage expert. Do not sign an access agreement or conveyance before someone has valued the remainder, because cure costs and severance damages are proven through the remainder, not the strip taken. Common questions are answered in our eminent domain law FAQs and on our eminent domain and condemnation issues page.

How Jimerson Birr Helps Space Coast Property and Business Owners

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 walk into the first meeting knowing how your project is funded and scheduled.

Our eminent domain practice works alongside our real estate development and construction industry team, which matters when a taking is really a redevelopment problem in disguise. Our Orlando office serves Central Florida, including Brevard County.

If FDOT has contacted you about SR 528 between Industry Road and SR 3, or the segment running east toward Port Canaveral, contact Jimerson Birr before you respond. The statutory clocks start on receipt, and Florida law shifts the owner’s fees and costs to the condemning authority, calculated on the benefit obtained above its offer.