District

This is a condemnation proceeding to determine the fair market value of the condemnee’s property interest in a medical office building taken in eminent domain by a public hospital district. The district, citing the declarations of four jurors, challenged the verdict on the ground it was based in part on factors the jury should not have considered, and it moved for a new trial accordingly. The trial court granted the motion, and the condemnee has appealed. We will reverse.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

The Sierra View Local Health Care District (the District) is a public entity that owns and operates the Sierra View District Hospital in Porterville. In the mid-1990’s, while the present hospital building was under construction, the District solicited bids to develop (i.e., construct and manage) a medical office building of similar design on land the District owned across the street. It subsequently awarded the development contract to a limited partnership that was, or would become, known as Sierra View Medical Plaza Associates, LP (the Partnership).

The office building, completed in May of 1997, is a “two-story concrete tilt-up structure” with a “net rentable area” of some…