By Miranda Jaimes, Managing Editor for Community Impact
A project to widen US 380 in Frisco is expected to move forward in 2023.
In spring 2022 environmental assessment began on a project the Texas Department of Transportation would conduct that would widen US 380 from Teel Parkway to west of Lakewood Drive in Collin County. Environmental assessments are necessary to minimize effects of TxDOT projects to both nature and humans.
If there are no major issues from the environmental analysis that cannot be addressed in a reasonable time frame, final environmental clearance for the project is expected in spring 2023, according to a TxDOT presentation.
The project would widen the 5.9-mile stretch of US 380 and reconstruct the road to a 12-foot-wide, six-lane divided highway with two- to three-lane continuous frontage roads. The project would also allow for drainage improvements, ramps to provide accessibility, interchange improvements and sidewalks along both sides of the highway.
US 380’s capacity is exceeded due to the rapid growth in both Denton and Collin counties, according to the TxDOT presentation. This leads to increased congestion, reduced mobility and higher crash rates compared to other similar roadways in the region, the presentation stated.
US 380 in Frisco and Denton County is already under construction. Crews are working between Teel Parkway and Mahard Drive. Once the construction is completed, the existing US 380 roadway within the proposed project limits will be a six-lane divided roadway with a raised center median, two-foot-wide inside and outside shoulders, and curb and gutter.
This part of the work on US 380 is expected to be completed in 2025.
Once the environmental clearance is granted for the project to reconstruct the road to six lanes each direction, TxDOT will begin acquiring the property needed in the area to build the widened road and find funds for the $630 million project.
The department expects to start accepting bids to construct the project in 2026, with construction following shortly.
Photo: Miranda Jaimes/Community Impact
By John Wayne Ferguson
More than five years after their homes and businesses were flooded, residents above the Addicks and Barker dams are learning how much money the federal government owes them for damage from Houston’s overflowing reservoirs.
A federal judge last week ruled that the owners of six upstream properties flooded during Hurricane Harvey should collectively receive nearly $550,000. The six were chosen — jointly by Justice Department lawyers and attorneys for hundreds of property owners — as test cases in a massive case initiated just moths after the historic deluge.
The decision could open the door to thousands more judgments for property owners and could result in the government paying out tens of millions more dollars, attorneys for the flooded residents said Wednesday.
The case falls under a special jurisdiction that oversees so called “takings” cases, involving allegations the government temporarily took control of private land for a legitimate purpose. If the court’s ruling survives anticipated appeals by the Justice Department, it could become the largest government takings case in U.S. history, according to attorneys representing property owners.
A ruling is still pending for separate group of residents and business owners whose properties flooded when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the Addicks and Barker floodgates. The downstream property owners saw their claims dismissed in 2020, but in June a federal appeals court reversed the dismissal and remanded it to the lower court for further proceedings.
Starting Aug. 28, 2017, and lasting four days, Hurricane Harvey unleashed historic amounts of rain over the Houston area. The decades-old flood reservoirs on either side of Interstate 10 became dangerously full. The floodwater they retained caused widespread flooding of homes and businesses on the far-west outreaches of the Houston region.
After the storm, more than 1,600 businesses and homeowners sued the Army Corps in the specialized U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., contending the government intentionally planned for the reservoirs to flood their land. In 2019, U.S. Judge Charles F. Lettow ruled government officials had knowingly and intentionally used private property to store rising floodwaters.
Then, in separate hearings, Lettow set about assessing how much money these property owners were owed. On Oct. 28, Lettow ruled on damages, laying out explicitly how much some property owners were owed for decreases in their property values, the damage or destruction of their personal property and the costs of being displaced by the floods.
“The plaintiffs are entitled to just compensation for the permanent flowage easement the government took through its construction, maintenance, and operation of the Addicks and Barker Dams,” Lettow wrote.
The six property owners included homeowners and owners of rental properties. The decision in these test cases will trigger a process for Lettow to assess how much compensation property owners might be owed in thousands of other complaints. If Lettow’s standard is applied to all the upstream homes and businesses believed to be flooded, the total compensation would top $1 billion, according to Daniel Charest, a lead attorney for the upstream plaintiffs.
Charest said he expected the Department of Justice to file an appeal within the next 60 days and will likely challenge property owners’ rights to damages.
For the six test properties in Katy and Houston, Lettow gave out vastly differing sums: one family, he said, should be awarded $195,000 because of the damage to their home. Another plaintiff was awarded $1,401, according to court records.
The property owners who received the largest award saw their home on Kelliwood Manor Lane in Katy flooded by more than a foot of water for four days. The person with the smallest award experienced no flooding in her Katy home, but she had damage to her garage, according to court documents.
Vuk Vujasinovic, an attorney with the law firm VB Attorneys and a lead counsel in the lawsuit, said attorneys and their clients were still working to process what Lettow’s decision would mean in their individual situations. Vujasinovic said there was a “wide variance” in the awards for the plaintiffs in the test case, and that Lettow had “split the baby” in his decision.
“Every case is going to be individual, based on what happened in their house, but as a general matter, we’re going to study the methods by which the judge awarded these monies and apply it to all our our clients across the board,” Vujasinovic said.
The difference in the damages was largely based on structural flooding, attorneys said. Properties that had significant flooding got more money and places with less damage got less, he said. Renters also appear to be in line to receive less compensation for their losses.
“By and large, a majority of the claimants should be happy with the result,” said Charest, one of the lead counsels.
On average, the six plaintiffs received compensation of about $130 per square foot of flooded interior, according to a press release from his law firm, Burns Charest LLP.
“I am grateful that we have achieved this result after so much effort,” said Charest. “These awards will be a huge help for our clients. I hope this result can help achieve as good or better results for the other upstream flood victims going forward.”
Lawyers for flood victims have estimated that between 10,000 and 12,000 properties upstream of the reservoirs were damaged during Harvey.
Being on the witness stand in a case was an emotional experience for the test case plaintiffs.
“I felt like I represented thousands, and I could feel the weight of that as I testified,” said Elizabeth Burnham, a test case plaintiff who was flooded in Bear Creek. “I wanted to do well for myself, but it was definitely nerve-wracking, because I knew there were many more people that depended on me doing a good job.”
Burnham sold her home to an investor after the storm and moved, but she said she still feels scared of flooding because of what happened during Harvey.
“I can’t sleep at night in a heavy rainstorm, because I have to check the road to make sure it’s not going to flood our new house,” Burnham said.
Burnham declined to comment about the size of the judgment because of possible future appeals.
Attorneys representing the federal government didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Charest and other law firms are encouraging property owners upstream of the dams to file claims before the statute of limitations passes next year on the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Harvey.
“The six-year anniversary of Harvey is August 2023,” Charest said. “I’m telling everyone that will listen to me to please get the word out that they need to get a claim on file. They can do it themselves, they can hire a lawyer, I don’t care. What I don’t want to see is the government take this property interest and do this harm and not be held accountable.”
Article featured at https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Properties-upstream-of-Addicks-Barker-reservoirs-17554181.php
Photo: Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle
By Asia Armour, Features Reporter with Community Impact
A $550 million proposed project to widen about 13 miles of the Katy Freeway, also known as I-10, is one step closer. The planned project will start at FM 359 in Waller County, passing through Fort Bend County and end at Mason Road in Harris County.
In June and July, the Texas Department of Transportation conducted a hearing on the project, which aims to improve mobility and safety in the area. TxDOT officials said they anticipate a nearly 40% increase in area traffic between 2025 and 2045.
During a July presentation, Lauren Munoz, a public involvement expert for the project, cited the rate of crashes in this area as higher than average for similar Texas highways, especially at Mason Road, Grand Parkway, Katy Fort Bend Road and FM 359.
To improve capacity, the TxDOT project team suggests adding two lanes and two general-purpose lanes from FM 359 to Hwy. 90 and extending frontage roads from Pederson Road to Hwy. 90. TxDOT will also add exit and entrance ramps from Pederson Road to Cane Island Parkway. TxDOT also proposed restriping from Hwy. 90 to Mason Road to add two lanes.
TxDOT also suggested multimodal improvements, such as 10-foot side paths for bicycles and pedestrians from Pederson Road to Hwy. 90, as well as expanding the right of way where reconstruction or drainage is needed, such as 12 acres for a potential detention pond east of Marino Road.
The next step in the implementation process is finalizing plans and curating environmental impact documents for review. Because the project is state- and federally funded, TxDOT is required to assess the potential impacts on the environment in accordance with federal standards, which includes public outreach efforts.
Pending the review, TxDOT will begin right-of-way acquisition in summer 2023 and construction will start fall 2023. The duration of the work has yet to be determined, but George said it will be completed in three or four phases, moving east to west.
Article featured at https://communityimpact.com/houston/katy/transportation/2022/07/19/550m-katy-freeway-txdot-project-to-span-three-area-counties/
Photo: Community Impact
By Andy Yanez with Community Impact
There could soon be changes to the original federally approved design to widen FM 518, better known as Broadway Street, in Pearland.
The Texas Department of Transportation from April 26-May 13 collected public input on a proposed change to the Broadway Street widening project from Cullen Parkway to Hwy. 35 in Pearland. TxDOT aims to make a decision based on the public input by the summer and begin a detailed design for the project toward the end of the year.
“The project is needed because current and projected growth in the area has caused traffic demand to increase,” said Daisy Orona, bilingual communication specialist for Stantec, a design and consulting company working with TxDOT on the project.
The original design included widening Broadway Street from four to six lanes between Hwy. 288 and Hwy. 35. The project is going to be broken down in two phases: Hwy. 288 to Cullen Parkway for Phase 1, which is set to begin construction in 2025 and cost $88 million, and Cullen Parkway to Hwy. 35 for Phase 2.
The changes to Phase 2 include acquiring less right of way for the expansion, constructing three 11-foot-wide lanes on each side of the thoroughfare, and creating sidewalks on the north and south sides of Broadway Street.
TxDOT originally planned to acquire more right of way and build two 12-foot lanes and one 15-foot shared lane for cars and bicycles on each side of Broadway.
“Based on public comments and discussions with the city of Pearland, TxDOT decided to revisit the design for … FM 518,” Orona said.
While the proposed changes to Phase 2 of the Broadway Street expansion are projected to affect fewer parcels in the city, it could potentially displace more properties because of the addition of the pedestrian path that was originally planned to be a shared lane with cars, Orona said. TxDOT will offer financial assistance to residences and businesses displaced due to federal law.
The estimated construction cost for Phase 2 of the project is $44 million, Orona said. A timeline for construction has yet to be set.
Hwy. 6 reconstruction
The Texas Department of Transportation is overseeing the construction of an asphalt concrete pavement overlay and installation of traffic signals, signings and pavement markings from CR 99 to Second Street, also known as Brazos Street, in Alvin, TxDOT Public Information Officer Danny Perez said. The work was needed to repair the road and improve the pavement’s lifespan and ride quality, he added.
Timeline: September 2021-August 2022
Cost: $5.3 million
Funding source: state funds
Article featured at https://communityimpact.com/houston/pearland-friendswood/transportation/2022/06/06/txdot-considering-changes-to-broadway-street-widening-project/
Photo: (Courtesy Fotolia)/Community Impact
By Vinson & Elkins Law
In a unanimous opinion issued on May 28, 2020, the Houston First Court of Appeals affirmed in all aspects a February 2018 jury verdict in favor of CC Telge. As referenced in the opinion, at trial, the State argued it owed compensation of $1.3 million and CC Telge requested $28.8 million from the jury. The Texas Lawbook reported this to be the highest jury verdict ever for a property owner in a Texas condemnation case (The Texas Lawbook, February 7, 2018).
The State filed a Petition for Review with the Texas Supreme Court in November 2020 and on March 5, 2021, the Texas Supreme Court denied the Petition for Review.
There is a team of V&E lawyers and staff who participated in this case during pre-trial discovery, trial and on appeal. The trial lawyers were Donny Griffin and Billy Dyer with assistance from Cathy Smith on appellate issues.
Read more about the Texas Supreme Court’s decision in Law360.
For more information, please speak with our media contacts.
Article featured at https://www.velaw.com/news/texas-supreme-court-rejects-state-of-texas-bid-to-overturn-28-8m-harris-county-jury-verdict-for-cc-telge-road-lp/
By Paul Bubny with Connect Media
Increased demand for suburban housing will support property values in the outlying sectors around Greater Houston and other Texas cities, said Houston-based valuation firm Deal Sikes.
“Corporate workplace trends, such as working-from-home, have energized the suburban housing markets,” said Mark Sikes, principal with Deal Sikes. Even employees who will work-from-home only one or two days a week in the future are more open to suburban and exurban living.”
Over times, Sikes said, “attitudes about long commutes will change and homebuyers will respond by moving farther out.”
Community developers and home building firms show increased appetite for lots and developable land in counties surrounding Houston, said Sikes.
“Suburban housing growth is establishing a future market for retail development in the long-term,” he said. “Current market conditions have placed pressure on retail, but as population growth continues in outlying areas, the retail market will regain momentum for new suburban development.”
Article featured at https://www.connect.media/suburban-housing-demand-picks-up-around-texas-cities/
By The BISNOW
Commercial property values in Houston should trend upward in 2020, as the region’s positive job growth will increase demand for development opportunities, according to Houston-based valuation firm Deal Sikes.
“Houston’s commercial real estate values will be on a solid upswing in 2019,” Deal Sikes principal Matthew Deal said. “With Houston expected to gain population significantly in the next decade, the long-term forecast must include rising property prices that will be very impressive over the long haul.” The firm said rising land prices have pushed industrial development farther away from the center of the city, and outer suburban land prices have increased accordingly. But that hasn’t stopped development: More than 15M SF of warehouse and industrial space is under construction in the greater Houston area, the firm said. Meanwhile, property values in the urban core remain strong, as developers and builders locate buildings for redevelopment, or seek sites that are appropriate for new construction. “Multifamily construction is strong in Houston and researchers report more than 25,000 units are now under construction, although the pace is expected to be slightly more moderate in 2020 as the new inventory is absorbed,” principal Mark Sikes said. “Investor demand is good and multifamily valuations have not yet peaked in most submarkets.” Though newer office buildings and Class-A towers under construction are leasing briskly, Houston’s office market is its most sluggish sector, according to the firm. The energy industry — a juggernaut in Houston’s leasing arena — is in the midst of a downturn, which is hurting growth. The healthcare sector is faring better. The firm identified the Texas Medical Center as a source of growth for Houston, pointing to the expansion of several hospitals and research facilities. “Although there are a few exceptions, the real estate market in Houston is headed for another good year,” Sikes said. “The region’s economy is healthy and although the energy industry is in a lackluster period, the overall economic outlook is outstanding.”
Article featured at https://www.bisnow.com/houston/news/economy/houston-property-values-in-2020-to-rise-on-job-growth-102714?utm_source=CopyShare&utm_medium=Browser
By The DI Wire
The creation of the new federal opportunity zone program is enhancing investor interest and placing upward pressure on property valuations in downtown Houston, according to the Deal Sikes property valuation firm.
“Investors are gaining an understanding of the benefits and potential value of property owned in one of the new opportunity zones,” said Mark Sikes, principal at Deal Sikes. “This is particularly true in downtown Houston where the investment potential is significant. Over the last year, valuations appear to be up 5 or 10 percent for specific properties in downtown because of the opportunity zone designation. As additional transactions are closed, price gains may prove to be even stronger.”
Opportunity zones were approved by Congress as part of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act to promote investment in distressed communities nationwide. There are more than 8,000 census tracts around the country designated as qualified opportunity zones.
Sikes said that opportunity zones allow investors to defer capital gains tax if the properties are substantially improved and held for a number of years. If a property is held for 10 years, the capital gains may be permanently excluded from federal taxation.
“The requirement for substantial improvements to the property will likely exclude Class A office towers from the opportunity zone benefit,” Sikes added. “However, downtown’s older commercial buildings, parking lots and obsolete office properties appear to offer investors significant incentive for development and growth to enjoy these tax incentives.”
A joint venture between international real estate giant Hines and Cresset-Diversified QOZ Fund, an opportunity zone fund launched by Cresset Partners and Diversified Real Estate Capital, recently started construction on The Preston, a residential high-rise tower located in a qualified opportunity zone in downtown Houston.
“Sophisticated investors are already making significant moves,” said Matthew Deal, principal of Deal Sikes. “This trend is likely to spread as the IRS clarifies its regulations and attorneys and tax consultants become more familiar with opportunity zones, which offer major federal tax incentives across the city and the nation.”
Deal Sikes is based in Houston and provides valuation and counseling services for real estate firms, governmental agencies, law firms, and investors.
Article featured at https://thediwire.com/houston-based-valuation-firm-reports-opportunity-zone-designation-driving-property-values/
By Business Wire
A jury has awarded a Houston property owner compensation of $12.2 million – almost four times the amount originally offered by the State of Texas – for the eminent domain taking of land for the construction of the Grand Parkway in north Houston, according to Deal Sikes, a Houston-based real estate valuation and eminent domain counseling firm.
Using the power of eminent domain, the Texas Department of Transportation acquired about 44 acres of land along Boudreaux Road east of State Highway 249, offering to pay $3.2 million in 2014. The remainder of the property owner’s land holdings there, about nine acres, also lost value due to the eminent domain taking, Deal Sikes determined.
At the conclusion of a trial in Houston, a jury decided the State of Texas should pay $12.25 million to the property owner. The findings of the jury closely followed the appraisal of the land by Deal Sikes, a Houston-based real estate valuation firm with deep experience in eminent domain cases.
“As required by the Texas Constitution, a land owner is entitled to receive just compensation for property acquired through eminent domain,” said Deal Sikes principal Matthew Deal. “Our firm has decades of experience providing valuation services and expert testimony concerning property impacted by eminent domain for construction of roadways, utility lines, pipelines, rail projects and other public infrastructure programs across Texas.”
The Grand Parkway, also known as State Highway 99, is a partially completed loop planned for a 184-mile route around the outskirts of Houston.
A Houston-based firm founded by Matthew Deal and Mark Sikes, Deal Sikes provides valuation and counseling services for private property owners, governmental agencies, law firms, and a variety of corporations.
Article feature at https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190225005849/en/Eminent-Domain-Lawsuit-Results-12.2-Million-Jury
By Leaders in Law
Lawyers from the Houston-based Vinson & Elkins recently won a unique eminent domain suit brought on by the State of Texas against a privately-held joint venture.
Using the power of eminent domain, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) acquired the DiMare Fresh Produce cold storage warehouse on 3.9 acres at 1415 West Loop North. The state offered to pay only $5,775,000 for the 90,000-square-foot warehouse, which was owned by Beeson Sirota Joint Venture. The offer was rejected and TxDOT subsequently filed suit against the ownership venture, which was represented by V&E partners George Murphy and David Wall.
Houston-based Deal Sikes, a real estate valuation firm, estimated that the DiMare site, located in the highly popular Inner Loop location, was worth much more than TxDOT offered – $9.25 million.
“Cold storage warehouse facilities are limited in supply and in high demand in Houston and property values continue to increase in the Inner Loop district,” said Deal Sikes Principal Mark Sikes.
At the conclusion of the trial in July, the jury determined that Deal Sikes’ appraisal was accurate and the owner should be paid $9,250,000.
“This important case winds up a long series of eminent domain takings by TxDOT along Interstate 610,” said Matthew Deal, principal of Deal Sikes. “Our firm consulted with many northwest Houston property owners regarding TxDOT takings.”
Article featured at https://leadersinthelaw.com/vinson-elkins-wins-multimillion-dollar-eminent-domain-case-for-houston-company/