Commercial properties also hit hard by latest assessments
-
The Regional Enterprise Tower Previous assessment: $10.1 million Reassessment: $38.1.2 million
Share with others:
Just like many of their residential counterparts, the owners of some of Downtown's tallest and most distinctive buildings are facing huge increases in the taxable value of their properties as a result of the Allegheny County reassessment.
Highwoods Properties, the Raleigh, N.C.-based real estate investment trust that purchased PPG Place for $179.4 million in September, saw the assessed value of the glass castle-like complex leap from $185 million to $237.7 million.
The new value not only is significantly higher than the purchase price, but also is larger than the $214.1 million that Highwoods said represented its total investment in the property.
PMC Property Group, a Philadelphia developer, is facing a 71.6 percent increase in the assessment on the former Verizon Building on Stanwix Street after paying $4.4 million for it in December 2010. The county now values it at $7.5 million.
Likewise, the assessment on the Regional Enterprise Tower, which sold at sheriff sale last year and has lost numerous tenants, has more than tripled, going from $10.1 million to $38.1 million, based on the new commercial numbers released on the county's real estate website Wednesday.
The new owner of U.S. Steel Tower, Downtown's largest skyscraper, seemed to fare a little better than some others. While the assessment on the building jumped from $175 million to $233.2 million, it's still lower than the reported $250 million the ownership group led by New York real estate investor Mark Karasick paid for the property.
That deal was completed through a so-called "89-11" transaction that shielded the property from millions of dollars in deed transfer taxes. The purchase price has never been recorded, leaving assessors without formal documentation of the sale.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Oliver Building, which sold for roughly $10 million last fall through a deed in lieu of foreclosure, nonetheless saw its assessment shoot up from $20 million to $47.9 million. That's despite a vacancy rate of nearly 70 percent.
Jonathan Kamin, a Downtown real estate attorney who is representing a number of commercial property owners, said the numbers just don't add up.
"There seems to be no rhyme or reason why the commercial numbers have increased in the manner that they have," he said.
"It certainly is not based on the income generated by the properties nor does it appear to be based on comparable sales. It looks like a concerted effort to punish the commercial properties to raise additional revenue."
First Published January 5, 2012 12:00 am
