Opinion ID: 1828823
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Award for Present Taking.

Text: Applying these principles here, we cannot say that the trial court committed manifest error in its award for the strip taken. Before the taking, the tract was a corner lot approximately 200 feet square. All four experts conceded its highest and best use to be as a service station property, admittedly one of the highest per-foot highway frontage valuations. All appraisers valued the land in the area of $40,000. The partial taking took approximately 74 feet off the main highway front and an additional 15 feet along most of the sidestreet. The L-shaped taking took .33 acres out of the .925 acre parent tract, some 35.7% of its area. The remainder will be a half-acre corner lot, with a highway frontage of 185 feet (severely limited in highway accessibility, however, see III below) by a depth of about 136 feet. The landowners' two experts testified that the front 100-foot portion of the lot had a greater value than the rear 100-feet. However, we find no manifest error in the trial court's acceptance of the Department's experts' testimony that the entire parent tract, valued at its highest and best use, possessed the same market value without differentiation between front and rear portions. We further find no manifest error in the trial court's determination of the land-value of the entire tract before the taking as being $38,120, and its award to the landowners of $13,600 as the pro rata value of the portion taken. The award of $38,000 for the improvements (all of which were on the front portion taken) is likewise supported by the evidence.