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If FDOT has sent a written offer for part of your warehouse, distribution center, or industrial site, you are entitled, on request, to a copy of the eminent domain appraisal that number is based on. An appraisal values what the appraiser saw and assumed. On industrial property, value can depend on how trucks move, where trailers stage, and whether the remaining site still works and meets code. Get the appraisal and the plans before you respond.
What Should You Do First When FDOT Makes an Offer on Your Industrial Property?
Ask FDOT in writing for the appraisal report and the construction plans. Under section 73.015, Florida Statutes, the condemning authority must provide the appraisal its offer is based on within 15 business days of your request, along with right-of-way maps and construction plans to the extent they have been prepared.
Those plans can include the driveway connection detail, which shows how your trucks will get in and out after the project. You also get at least 30 days after you receive the notice to respond before FDOT can file a condemnation case. Our guide to what the government must do before filing an eminent domain lawsuit walks through the rest of the presuit steps.
Did FDOT just send an offer on your warehouse or yard? Talk with a Jimerson Birr eminent domain attorney before you sign or respond.
Why Can an Eminent Domain Appraisal Undervalue a Warehouse or Industrial Site?
On a partial taking, Florida law requires compensation for the land taken and for damages to the remainder caused by the taking, under section 73.071(3). On an industrial site, a narrow strip of frontage can change how the whole property operates, and the appraisal should account for that.
Appraisal weaknesses are not new. We have written about common deficiencies in eminent domain real estate appraisals, such as unsupported cost-to-cure figures. On warehouse and industrial property, these are the items to test first.
Does the Appraisal Account for Truck Access and Driveway Changes?
Start with the driveway connection detail and compare it to how your trucks enter and leave today. Florida treats access as a property right. In Palm Beach County v. Tessler, the Florida Supreme Court held that a substantial loss of access can be compensable even without a physical taking.
The same opinion says that losing the most convenient access is not compensable where other suitable access remains. That is why the facts matter: a relocated or narrowed driveway that a tractor-trailer can no longer use safely is a different problem from a longer route around the block. Our article on what happens to access, parking, and other business-critical features in a taking covers this in more detail.
What Happens to Loading Docks, Truck Courts, and Yard Space?
Check whether the appraisal treats lost yard space as land only, or as a change in how the site functions. If the taking cuts into the truck court, trailer parking, or the approach to your dock doors, the loss can show up as severance damages to the remaining property.
An appraisal may address this with a “cost to cure,” such as reconfiguring a dock or adding a new curb cut. In Florida Department of Transportation v. Armadillo Partners, Inc., the Florida Supreme Court held that cost to cure is relevant evidence of damage to the remainder, not a measure of damages assessed separately from the drop in its market value. A cure that looks cheap on paper deserves a close look.
Will the Remaining Site Still Meet Code?
A taking can leave an industrial site short on required parking, setbacks, landscape buffers, or stormwater capacity. Look for what the appraisal assumes about the remainder’s legal use after the taking. If it assumes a variance or a site plan change, that assumption should be tested by people who handle land use and zoning matters and variances and other discretionary permits.
Are Fixtures, Signs, and Site Improvements Included?
Walk the taking line and list every improvement on or near it: fencing, security gates, lighting, signs, paving, and installed equipment. Florida law addresses whether installed fixtures are subject to condemnation and how they are valued, and signs and billboards raise their own questions. If the project also needs a temporary construction easement, check whether the appraisal accounts for the disruption while crews work on your frontage.
Does the Appraisal Claim the Road Project Makes Your Property More Valuable?
It may. On a road right-of-way taking, section 73.071(4) requires any increase in the remainder’s value caused by the project to be offset against damages to the remainder. That offset can never reduce what FDOT pays for the land actually taken. If the claimed enhancement exceeds the damages, the owner does not owe the difference.
Is the state’s appraisal treating your truck court as if it were empty land? Request a free consultation so an attorney can review the appraisal and plans with you.
Can a Business Operating on the Site Recover More Than the Real Estate Value?
Sometimes. Section 73.071(3)(b) allows business damages on a partial right-of-way taking by FDOT or another public body when the taking may damage or destroy an established business of more than five years’ standing that is owned by the party whose land is being taken and sits on adjoining land that party owns or holds. The claim must be pleaded in written defenses.
The deadline is strict. Section 73.015(2)(c) requires the business owner to submit a good faith written offer to settle business damages, by certified mail, within 180 days after receiving the business owner notice, or after the notice is returned undeliverable, unless the parties agree to a later time. FDOT must also make a good faith effort to notify business owners on the property, including lessees. Absent a showing of good faith justification, the court must strike a late claim.
Who Pays for Your Own Appraisal and Attorney?
In a condemnation case, section 73.091(1) requires the condemning authority to pay attorney’s fees as provided in section 73.092, plus reasonable costs, including reasonable appraisal fees and, when business damages are compensable, a reasonable accountant’s fee. Section 73.015(4) carries cost and fee recovery, on conditions it spells out, into a settlement reached before a lawsuit on a road right-of-way taking. How fees are calculated depends on the result and the type of claim.
That is why it makes sense to talk with counsel before accepting an FDOT offer. If FDOT files under chapter 74, the quick-take process adds its own deadlines. Jimerson Birr represents Florida property and business owners when FDOT and other condemning authorities need their land, and our Real Estate Development, Sales & Leasing team works with owners on the site issues behind the valuation. Charles Jimerson’s practice includes serving as statewide eminent domain counsel for banks, distribution companies, and retailers, and the firm handles eminent domain condemnation issues that arise in real estate transactions and disputes.
What Should You Check Before You Respond to FDOT?
These facts shape what your property and business may recover:
- The dates you received each notice. The written offer notice starts the 30-day response window. The separate business owner notice starts the 180-day business damage clock.
- How long the business has operated on the site, and who owns it. Business damages require more than five years’ standing, and the business must be owned by the party whose land is taken and sit on adjoining land that party owns or holds.
- Your lease, if the site is leased. A commercial lease may have a condemnation clause that decides how an award is split between landlord and tenant.
- How trucks use the site today. Trailer lengths, daily truck counts, dock door locations, and turning paths show what a driveway or yard change really costs.
- Your site plan approvals. Approved parking, setback, and stormwater numbers show whether the remainder will still comply.
These facts decide the outcome, and an attorney needs to review them against the appraisal and the plans.
Do the plans show a new driveway your trucks cannot use? Talk with a Jimerson Birr eminent domain attorney before the response window closes.
How Can Jimerson Birr Help With an FDOT Offer on Your Warehouse or Industrial Site?
If FDOT has made an offer on your warehouse or industrial site, Jimerson Birr can request and review the state’s appraisal and plans, work with independent appraisers, and pursue remainder and business damages through our Florida eminent domain practice. Call (904) 389-0050 or request a free consultation. Waiting has a cost: FDOT can file suit once 30 days pass after you receive its notice, and a business damage claim must be struck if the owner’s offer is late without good faith justification.