Imminent eminent domain: How public projects are impacting Texas landowners

BY BRANDI SMITH

From pipelines that cross the state to high-speed rail plans that cut Texas in half, massive projects are underway that have a significant impact on property owners all over the Lone Star State. REDNews touched base with eminent domain expert, David Showalter, to discuss the biggest implications.

Showalter, who got started in real estate law in 1977, has over 40 years of experience in real estate law. In addition to real estate development, he has handled hundreds of eminent domain cases in that time. His clients are a healthy mix of landowners, special-use properties, homeowners and business owners, large and small.

“This broad experience helps us because we see all facets of the process and how it affects different types of owners,” says Showalter. “We are more aware of, and sensitive to, the different ways that owners of property can be damaged and we can analyze each of those aspects in every case and make sure we’re covering all the ways they’ve been harmed so that they get full compensation along the way.”

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Shipping Containers: The building blocks of the future

BY BRANDI SMITH

You’ve undoubtedly seen the viral images as they appeared on your social media timeline: shipping containers gaining new life in architecture. The giant steel boxes, which were built to withstand the stress of shipment, storage and handling, have proven themselves a new tool for builders.

The trend started in Europe, where the containers have been used to create everything from apartments to homes to buildings, such as London’s famed Container City. The idea recently transitioned across the pond to the U.S. Here, developers and consumers are examining the benefits of using containers to build or add interest to projects.

That includes Bill Wetterman, who had been wondering what to do with the century-old downtown Waco building he’s owned for going on 20 years.

“With all the activity and redevelopment, as well as traffic from The Silos, it was just time to utilize the building for something,” he says. “Waco has such tremendous tourism going on right now, we wanted to seize on that.”

The building is located on 4th Street, two blocks from the Magnolia Market, basically next door to the historic Dr. Pepper Museum and four blocks off the river, on the one-way entry into downtown Waco off of U.S. 35.

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