Mike Quinn Quoted in Nation’s Restaurant News

In the September 12, 2005 issue of Nation's Restaurant News, Mike Quinn is quoted in the article "Eminent domain translates to imminent doom" for his perspective on the issue of eminent domain as it pertains to restaurant owners and the legal resources they have if the offer is below what they consider to be fair market value. Numerous, mainly independently owned, restaurants nationwide face a similar fate as local governments and private developers zero in on ambitious public works projects that will force foodservice establishments to be dislodged from locations some of them have occupied for decades. In some cases authorities have been emboldened to seize the sites by a controversial June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that stretched the eminent-domain powers of local government to take private property and turn it over to other private developers.

From critically acclaimed restaurants to beachfront hot dog and pizza stands to decades-old downtown diners to new eateries with hip, late-night clientele, the doomed-to-be-evicted establishments share the unfortunate distinction of having addresses that are at the wrong place at the wrong time. What is disturbing to many — including a large coalition in Congress that has taken steps to invalidate the court’s decision — is that the ruling empowers local government to offer minimal to no compensation for the land to be condemned and given to private developers as long as it provides a “public benefit,” such as job creation. But what eminent domain takes away from the restaurant industry, it gives back, insist lawyers, commercial real estate brokers and city planners.

From the redevelopment in downtown Boston to the Brooklyn Atlantic Yards to Daytona Beach’s new boardwalk, city planners are depending on replacement restaurants to play a vital part in making the projects succeed. That’s one reason why Michael Quinn, a real estate partner and eminent-domain expert in the Chicago offices of the law firm Seyfarth Shaw, advises operators whose properties are about to be condemned to begin immediately exploring how they can become part of the newly proposed project. “If it’s an economic-development project, the first thing to ask yourself is do I want to be part of it, and if so, is there a way for me to stay in business while the project is going on,” Quinn says. “But you have to look long and hard at that question. “The average restaurant can’t afford to be out of business for more than an hour, and the only way many get to last is if the project is done in phases and not on top of you, so that when phase one is finished, perhaps there’s a chance you can move your business.” If there is no way to stay, Quinn says, lawsuits may be the only way to ensure that evicted operators get fair-market value for their businesses. “But if it is not going to work and it becomes a purchase in lieu of condemnation, your only leverage at that point is to go to court,” he advises. “Tie them up. Even if you lose, appeal, because time is money to these developers. “So what’s going to happen is the developer is going to send an appraiser to the property and testify in court that your business has the value of a wreck. And your appraiser is going to say the business is about equal to the Taj Mahal. It’ll come down somewhere in the middle and is usually unappealable. So cut a deal.”