By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO. – An eminent domain case in Clayton has been overturned by the Missouri Supreme Court.
City officials had wanted to use eminent domain to hand the properties over to Centene Redevelopment Corporation, which wants to build a 210-millon-dollar office and retail complex on the disputed sites.
But Tuesday afternoon the State Supreme Court said the city could not consider the area blighted.
Gerry Carmody represents the property owners who challenged the original ruling.
"The redevelopment area must be both a social liability and an economic liability, and the Supreme Court said that there was no evidence that this was a social liability," Carmoday said.
Clayton officials declined to give a recorded comment to KWMU, but they released a written statement, expressing disappointment at the decision.
They said that the Centene project is critical to Clayton's future, and expressed hope that the project can somehow still be built.