Pre-Eminent Domain

When is a story about the prospects of an eminent domain land grab not a story about eminent domain? Simple. When the Washington Post staffer writing the story -- this one on car dealerships starting to feel the squeeze in loathesome Tysons Corner, Va. -- fails to mention the words at all in his story. Somehow the Post writer also manages to quote exactly zero public officials, while citing the purported opinions of "many Fairfax County officials". Hmm.

But in five years, an elevated Metro line is scheduled to slice through the middle of Leesburg Pike, a prospect that brings with it the question already rumbling on showroom floors: Is there room for acres of car lots in a Tysons transformed by transit?

Later on comes mention that

dealerships are at risk of being labeled out of place

[labeled by whom?] and points out that

A row of auto dealerships doesn't exactly fit with the new ethos of a transit- and pedestrian-friendly Tysons liberated from the car culture.

What is clear from the article is that some dealers in Tysons will try to sell off their lots or build multi-story structures on them (rather than relying on their existing, longstanding horizontal lots) now while they still can -- before the state sees fit to seize them and offer a pittance as remittance. Also known as eminent domain, Kelo-style.

More here.