Eminent domain is a necessary but unpleasant facet of progress – it is the right of the government to take private property for public use as long as it provides “just compensation,” as defined by the New Hampshire Board of Land and Tax Appeals.
In the case of Eighty Eight Coffee Co., which has been notified by the city that their business is being taken under eminent domain and marked for demolition as part of the Cemetery Brook Tunnel Project, the definition of “just compensation” is pivotal to the family that operates the business.
Over the weekend Marc Lee, who co-owns the cafe with his brother, Corey Tong, and Tong’s wife, Natalia Umpierrez-Tong, said there has been progress with the city since they spoke up about their plight.
“Thanks to public pressure the City has agreed to meet the purchase price of our appraisal. But we are still in negotiations of our relocation costs, which we are entitled to,” Lee said. “Nothing has been finalized.”
The city previously offered the family $455,000, which was short by about $100,000 of the independent appraisal Lee had done. Late last week the city upped its offer to $550,000 to meet their appraisal.
Lee credits the recent publicity over their situation for helping to move the needle on the offer, but the family is still negotiating relocation costs. He says through it all they have been cooperative with the city. They hoped upon hope the city might be looking for another way to proceed, or – worst case scenario – thinking that the city would “make them whole” by setting them up in a new location in another building they could own.
“We’ve never downgraded the importance of the project, but I wouldn’t have been so open-minded from the beginning if it was made clear to me that this was inevitable,” Lee said. “I was told directly by a city official that ‘we’re going to take care of you guys’ and it will be ‘a lucrative offer.’ Maybe I’m a fool for believing it.”
Their business is located in an area of the city included in the $30 million four-phase RAISE Manchester project bringing more housing options to the immediate area. It includes a large apartment complex directly across the street in the planning phase. Given the potential for the business to grow, Lee says the $550,000 for the land and building does not satisfy the effect of the taking of their property, which has been in the family for more than 25 years.
Scope and importance of the project
The Cemetery Brook Tunnel Project is essential and of utmost importance to the city’s future.
This massive underground sewer project, which is federally mandated, will benefit the entire city – and beyond – and protect the water supply, said Mayor Jay Ruais. City planners determined there is only one ideal path forward that accommodates the project needs, and that is to take the property at 124 Queen City Ave.
In a statement issued by the mayor last week, he described it as the largest public works project in the city’s history, central to its $338 million investment over the next 20 years to address flooding issues and improve water quality of the Merrimack River.
Cemetery Brook is the city’s main drainage basin, which starts from Stevens Pond and discharges in the Merrimack River, near Fisher Cats stadium. The new tunnel will be constructed along the former railroad corridor from Mammoth Road southwest to Queen City Avenue to “separate” Cemetery Brook. The new drainage system will include an underground tunnel two miles long and 12-feet in diameter and will run 30 to 80 feet deep.
“We have roughly 400 miles of sewer pipe in the City, 100 miles of which are 100 years or older. It’s archaic. And when weather emergencies occur, we continue to have serious problems with flooding and sewage discharge into the Merrimack River, our streets, and even into the homes of some of our 115,000 residents, Ruais said.
Ten years ago Fred McNeil, who is the city’s Chief Engineer, explained the history of the city’s Combined Sewer Overflow program – and why keeping up with repairs is a challenge, as they continue to update the underground sewer system sector by sector.
“It’s something that happened all over the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic states. When they built underground drainage systems in the 1800s they only used one pipe, so when rain events happen, all the rain goes into the sewer and exceeds the capacity,” McNeil told the Ink Link in 2014.
In designing the Cemetery Brook project, the City considered – and its engineers extensively evaluated – the project location, said Ruais. Ultimately, the current path and configuration of the project was identified as optimal from an engineering and overall impact perspective.
“The City started the process working with property owners in January 2023 and continues to do so to reach mutually agreeable negotiated resolutions. This work has included the efforts of our Economic Development Office to find alternate locations for affected businesses,” Ruais said.
Progress, on paper, is easy to understand. Parcels of land need to be bought, sold, excavated and modified; that is the story of every successful and growing city. But for Marc Lee and his family, it’s personal. The business their parents built in a building they had ownership of provided a level of security that is harder to put a price tag on.
And this is the only reason Lee says they decided to go public. The way things are done in a city may not be the best way for those whose lives – and livelihood – are disrupted.
“We’re just people trying to serve coffee. We didn’t even have a lawyer at the time this came up. I don’t know if the city understands how intimidating and sterile it feels,” Lee said.
He’s had a lot of time to think, and in looking around at the city Lee said he thought about the new CVS which replaced the old CVS on Mammoth Road which resulted in a refurbishing of the private East Side Club, a longtime bar and social club.
In that case a new $695,000 clubhouse was built, bigger and better, and included ADA upgrades – at no cost to the club.
Although he knows that there is a difference between a corporation making an offer that the East Side Club couldn’t refuse and a city with limited and allocated resources executing a necessary public works project, Lee said in the back of his mind he hoped that the city would somehow see their family business as something of enough value to the community to accommodate and preserve.
Since things went public he’s heard from countless customers, thanking him for creating a place where community happens in an area of the city that needs it.
“All I wanted was to get what this building is really worth, and so we’re happy that the city has met our appraisal. But in this market I also have to be realistic. I think the city is disappointed we didn’t just take their first offer and a lease someplace else, which is the solution they gave us initially,” Lee said. “Everything is expensive, nevermind a commercial business that will be a prime location, with those apartments going in right across the street. We were so excited when we heard about that, and it’s such a bummer we won’t be here to reap the rewards of it.”
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