Dante Dallago
Audio By Carbonatix
Arizona State University says it needs the lot where a historic Phoenix home currently stands to construct a headquarters for its new downtown Phoenix medical school. But planning documents included in a lawsuit over the home — the 124-year-old Louis Emerson House, located at 623 N. Fourth Street — show that the lot would be repurposed only as outdoor space.
Last week, Phoenix New Times reported that the Arizona Board of Regents, on behalf of ASU, filed an eminent domain lawsuit to seize and raze the Louis Emerson House, a property on the Phoenix Historical Register. The home’s owner, 89-year-old Robert Young, is fighting the suit.
Included in that lawsuit are three separate ground plans for the new health headquarters.
The first shows the headquarters’ outdoor open space as designed without the purchase of the lot where the Louis Emerson House sits:
Court record
The second shows what the outdoor space would look like if the lot were purchased and the Louis Emerson House were kept intact:
Court records
The third ground plan shows what the outdoor space would look like with the Louis Emerson House removed:
Court record
“Why would they want to destroy a historic treasure for a patio? I don’t understand it. It’s crazy,” said Young, the owner of the house.
In the lawsuit, lawyers for the Arizona Board of Regents and ASU show that the average open space for other ASU Health buildings accounts for 10% of the overall lot space. Without the lot on which the Louis Emerson House sits, open space for the ASU Health headquarters would be 3% instead of 6% with the lot.
The Arizona Board of Regents declined to comment due to pending litigation. ASU did not respond to a request for comment, but in a previous statement to New Times, ASU spokesperson Jerry Gonzalez said, “The university has made several offers to the owner to purchase the parcel, including offers which allow for the house to be moved, that have not been accepted. The university is moving ahead with the project and is evaluating options regarding the Emerson House.”
Young said he has already spent $7,500 in legal fees trying to save the house, and he says he has not been able to sleep well since the lawsuit.
“They’re putting me through hell,” he said.
Construction of the new ASU Health headquarters is already underway on the lots next to the Louis Emerson House, situated between North Fourth Street and North Fifth Street, and East Pierce Street and East Fillmore Street.
According to ASU, the headquarters will be a five-story, 170,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art medical building dedicated to research, teaching, and the future of Arizona’s health. With a $200 million construction price tag, the headquarters is scheduled to open in ASU’s 2028 fall semester.
