Boise State Gets OK to Use Eminent Domain for Stadium
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Boise State University has received approval to use eminent domain to acquire properties where school officials want to build a baseball stadium.
Documents from the Idaho State Board of Education show the school has tentatively agreed to buy land where an eight-unit apartment complex is located, but it has been unsuccessful in negotiating the purchases of two other parcels it needs to acquire for the stadium.
A four-unit apartment complex owned by Cotner Properties & Investments LLC and a surface parking lot owned by "Boise Church Christ Boise ID" sit on the pieces of the land that the university is interested in.
The property owners could not be reached for comment on Thursday, the Idaho Press reported.
On Thursday, the board allowed the university to use eminent domain, or condemnation to pursue the land if the parties can't reach an agreement. Eminent domain allows the government to take private property with compensation.
The university has been planning for its new baseball stadium for the last two decades and it should not be a surprise to property owners that the school wants to acquire their parcels, said Greg Hahn, a Boise State spokesman.
It's important that a fair deal is reached involving the value of the properties, he said of the ongoing negotiations.
The stadium is projected to cost between $8 million and $10 million, in addition to $500,000 in engineering costs.
The university hopes to have it completed by 2020 for the Broncos baseball team's first season since 1980, the Idaho Statesman reported.