Vicky replies: Well, the taxable value was $141 million in 1996. Somehow, the great financial engine known as Minneapolis caused the taxable value to drop to $82.6 million by 2003.
Aaron: Wait a minute - your first post says that the selling price will be 110-118 million. Are you now saying that the city should assess property value for taxation at a rate 25% greater than the selling price? I can't imagine your outcry were the city to value other commercial property similarly. Or is it that Minneapolis is a bad place to invest in property? Well, recent stories about the potential sale of the IDS Center seem to indicate that the value of some commercial property in Minneapolis Downtown is doing quite well on sale value, thank you very much. See another Fiedler article (Strib, July 16) for that info: "Other buildings known to be for sale include the Fifth Street Towers, LaSalle Plaza and the International Centre/Kinnard Financial complex. Together, the buildings represent close to $500 million in estimated value. Jeff Hart, a vice president at commercial real estate broker Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, said the prices could range from more than $200 million for the IDS building to about $40 million for the International Centre-Kinnard Financial Center complex. Fifth Street Towers, with its 1 million square feet of space, has been projected to sell at anywhere from $110 million to $140 million. LaSalle Plaza could go for about $80 million, Hart said. Though the circumstances vary -- the International and Kinnard complex is easily the laggard of the buildings for sale, since it's being sold by its lender and has a 60 percent vacancy rate -- the common thread behind all of the buildings coming to market now is that there is plenty of investment money chasing real estate deals. "The money side [institutional investors] are really driving the market. With interest rates low and [rental] yield requirements lower, there is more competition for properties right now," Pollock said. "Sellers are electing to take advantage of today's strong investment demand." Look, what the heck is your argument here? Is it that we should value commercial property for taxation at a rate greater than it's actual sale value? Is it that the taxable value of property is too low and should be raised to be more in tune with market value? Is it that Minneapolis is a bad place to invest in commercial real estate? Cause I think that #1 and #2 are conclusions that you'd oppose, and #3 ain't true in the context of downtown office space. Aaron Klemz Cooper __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
