ASU Agrees to Let 124-Year-Old Louis Emerson House Remain

Formal court dismissal and revised ASU Health site filings are still pending after the university announced it will spare the house.

Overview

ASU said on Friday it will withdraw the Arizona Board of Regents’ eminent domain action and allow the Louis Emerson House to stay as the university revises its ASU Health development plans.
Attorneys for the school confirmed that no motion to dismiss the case has been filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, so the legal paperwork and next procedural steps remain unresolved.
The house is a 124-year-old Queen Anne–style registered property that owner Robert Young and supporters greeted with surprise and relief when they learned ASU reversed course.
Disputes over relocation costs and use of the lot helped fuel resistance: Young had estimated moving the house would cost $2–3 million while he said ASU offered $990,000, and court-submitted plans indicated the parcel was to be used as outdoor space rather than for a building.
The decision follows a public campaign and petitions to save the home and could reshape ASU’s site plans for its new medical school headquarters, which is planned to open in 2028, as officials prepare revised filings.