A September hearing will decide the next step in a legal fight over a 124-year-old Phoenix home that Arizona State University wants for its planned medical-school campus.
The dispute centers on the Louis Emerson House, a Queen Anne-style home at Fourth and Pierce streets in downtown Phoenix. According to Arizona’s Family, an evidentiary hearing is set for Sept. 4 to determine whether ASU can immediately acquire the property through eminent domain.
The Arizona Board of Regents sued on ASU’s behalf after the homeowner rejected multiple purchase offers. The lawsuit names 89-year-old homeowner Robert Young and tenant Barry Schwartz as defendants.
Across the country, eminent-domain disputes can put homeowners, historic properties, universities, hospitals, transportation agencies, and redevelopment plans on a collision course when a public project depends on a specific parcel of private land.
The House Is on Phoenix’s Historic Register
The City of Phoenix lists the Emerson House as an individually designated historic property, with a construction date of 1902.
Earlier Arizona’s Family reporting said the home has stood at the downtown site for 124 years, aside from being moved about 100 feet in the 1990s.
ASU says the property is the last parcel needed for its planned ASU Health headquarters. The university’s ASU Health page says the downtown Phoenix building is expected to open in 2028 at the Phoenix Bioscience Core.
ASU Says the Campus Serves a Public Use
The university is seeking the land through eminent domain for a new medical-school campus. Arizona’s Family noted that eminent domain allows a government entity to take private property for public use, but the public-use argument must be proven in court.
ASU has said its final offer was based on an appraisal and that its offers included options allowing the house to be moved. Earlier reporting said an April letter showed the university offered Young $815,000 for the property.
The Homeowner Side Is Questioning the Taking
Local attorney Matthew Bartley told Arizona’s Family the homeowner may argue that acquiring this particular property does not meet the legal definition of public use, especially if the site would not function like a park or public building open to the public.
Arizona’s Family reported that both sides must provide evidence to the court by Sept. 1, three days before the scheduled hearing.
The Preservation Fight Is Still Unresolved
Schwartz has argued that moving the house would not fully address the problem because relocation and a new foundation could be expensive. Local historian Marshall Shore told Arizona’s Family the home should be incorporated into the campus instead of removed.
ASU says the headquarters is part of a broader downtown health corridor. The September hearing could shape whether the Emerson House remains in place, is moved, or becomes part of a larger debate over how growing cities handle older homes left inside major development zones.