Constitutional Limitations on Governmental Participation in Downtown Development Projects

The purpose of this Article is to investigate the constitutional boundaries that surround the most common forms of governmental participation. Part II of the Article discusses the constitutional limitations on property transactions in which the government either uses its power of eminent domain to condemn land for private downtown development, acquires land for the same purpose through a voluntary sale by the owner of the land, or subsidizes private development by its method of conveying property to the developer. Part III of the Article then discusses the problems that arise when a downtown project includes both public and private facilities, and the public facilities arguably benefit the private facilities far more than they do the general public. Finally, the Article concludes by briefly summarizing the actual or probable resolution of the major legal issues in each of the topic areas.