Las Vegas, Nevada

In the 1980s, the City cleared out a six-acre tract of land on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Bridger Avenue that was full of successful small businesses.  Government officials threatened property owners with eminent domain, bulldozed the buildings and excavated the site—all for a proposed $90 million Minami Tower, which would have been the state’s tallest office building.  However, in the end, Minami’s Japanese investors backed out, leaving the City with a hole in the ground and nothing to show for it.  Almost a decade later, in 1996, the City ended up donating the land to the federal government for a courthouse.[1]