Two months ago, he had no desire to see his city condemn a Persian rug store to make way for a $175 million dining and entertainment complex on the banks of Cherry Creek.
But since the City Council — with Dunafon’s support — had just voted to give Glendale’s urban renewal authority condemnation power in the area over strong objections, you can understand why the store’s owners, the Kholghy family, were far from reassured.
But it turns out Dunafon wasn’t kidding. And this week Glendale confirmed officially that it will move forward with redevelopment without the Kholghy property if it can’t reach agreement with the family by Tuesday.
Good for Glendale. Although condemning the property would have been within the city’s rights, it also would have been a travesty and an abuse of this state’s urban renewal laws.
It’s one thing for government to condemn private property for a truly public purpose — infrastructure or schools, for example — but to do so for a dining and entertainment complex? Only a strained interpretation of what the Fifth Amendment mandates as “public use” allows the taking of private property from Peter to give to developer Paul. But the U.S. Supreme Court has been convinced that the broad definition applies.
The Kholghys say they remain uneasy because “a press release is not a legally binding document,” which of course is true. Then again, the city would be inviting massive public backlash, even from those who believe in an expansive use of condemnation, if it were to renege on its word.
The Kholghys are now asking the city to remove their property from the “blighted” designation that allows condemnation in the first place. It’s a logical request. However, it’s only fair to acknowledge that they bought the property in 2006, two years after it had been declared blighted.
Given Glendale’s welcome statement this week, the rug shop is probably safer from condemnation than at any time since the family has owned the land.
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