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Metro Using Eminent Domain To Take Property

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Metro Nashville has filed a legal petition with the Davidson County Circuit Court to acquire land needed for the extension of Division Street.

The project has been set to create an uninterrupted roadway from the Gulch to Lafayette Street, with a new bridge and widened street. Metro had to purchase 32 parcels of land to make room for the revamped roadway.

The new Greyhound Bus terminal sits near the area where the bridge would end at Ash Street. Metro has been needing a portion of the company's back parking lot for the project. The plan would not affect the actual terminal building on 5th Avenue South.

Attorneys for Metro filed a petition in November seeking to use eminent domain to take ownership of the needed property.

Metro has used the legal maneuver in the past with Greyhound. In 2009 eminent domain was used to purchase land where the bus line's former terminal was located. That parcel was needed as part of the Music City Center project. 

Metro has been offering to pay Greyhound $870,400 for the property. 

NewsChannel 5 contacted Mayor Megan Barry's office about the pending eminent domain proceedings.

"We don’t have any comment at this time as it is a pending legal matter," said the Mayor's spokesman Sean Braisted.

Attorneys for Greyhound said in legal filings that Metro does not have the right to use eminent domain on the 5th Avenue property. The couple also asked the Circuit Court to move the matter to Federal Court.

A hearing date has been set in the matter for February 11, 2016.

The court proceedings will not delay the Division Street project. It has been slated to start in the next few weeks and should be completed sometime in 2017.