Some Rockford IL cases involving eminent domain: Rockford (IL) Register Star, 4/20/06

A dispute over a 23-acre parcel for a second Hononegah High School in Rockton heads back to court April 27. The Hononegah School Board wants land near the intersection of McCurry and Willowbrook roads, but officials and owner Chris Hodges were unable to agree on a sale price.

Ed St. Germain of Machesney Park accepted $167,000 — the village even chipped in $2,300 for his moving expenses — in December 2005 for his mobile home and land along Illinois 173, which is in the middle of a retail boom.

The Winnebago Park District started eminent-domain proceedings to buy Roy Gayle Baseball Complex when the Texas-based funeral services company that owns the land wouldn’t budge on the asking price. After an initial court hearing in September 2005, Service Corporation International said Rockford Pony Baseball could continue to play ball for an indefinite period while negotiations for the land sale continue.

Rockford officials invoked eminent domain in 1999 to acquire Los Torres Market on South Main Street to develop a $7 million Gray’s Fine Foods supermarket. Owner Guadalupe Torres sold the property to the city for $224,000 in 2000; he died in 2003.

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Rockford Register Star: http://www.rrstar.com