I might be wrong, but I was under the impression that eminent domain wasn’t available to states for transactions like this. A quick search turned up this artic

I might be wrong, but I was under the impression that eminent domain wasn’t available to states for transactions like this. A quick search turned up this article[1] talking about an attempt to do exactly what we’re talking about here, but it was ultimately settled out of court and as far as I can tell it’s still an open question as to whether a state government can legitimately exercise eminent domain in this context. 1. https://mckinneylaw.iu.edu/ilr/pdf/vol38p55.pdf https://mckinneylaw.iu.edu/ilr/pdf/vol38p55.pdf