In this article, you will get detail regarding State grants $6M tax abatement to Ellsworth mall
A state board that hears commercial property tax assessment appeals has reduced the Ellsworth Mall’s assessed taxable value by $6 million.
The decision came after Union River Associates Realty Holdings, which owns Maine Coast Mall in the city’s main commercial district, appealed its 2019 tax bill.
Larry Gardner, the city’s tax assessor, valued the mall’s total assets, including several buildings that line High Street in front of the mall, at $18.2 million. But after hearing arguments in the case, the state Board of Property Tax Review reduced the mall’s taxable value to $12 million.
The Board of Directors made a final written decision on the reduction in February. 28.
With the revised assessment, the mall is expected to receive a refund of $113,469 in 2019 taxes.
The ruling is not expected to be the final word in the tax dispute, Gardner said Thursday. The state board is considering the mall’s 2020 and 2021 tax bills, and mall owners have asked the city to reconsider its 2022 tax bill.
The city’s assessment for the property this year is $16.7 million, resulting in an expected tax bill — unless another abatement is granted — of nearly $263,000.
The state’s decision on the mall’s 2019 property taxes comes weeks after the city reached a favorable settlement with Walmart in a dispute over how much property tax the retail giant should pay for its local supercenter. Walmart had argued that its Ellsworth store should be assessed at about $10 million, not $20 million, but the company agreed to a $19.5 million assessment after the state Property Tax Board ruled in favor of the City of Brewer in similar to a tax dispute.
In the Maine Coast Mall tax dispute, the mall’s owners told the state board that Gardner overstated the mall’s 2019 taxable value by relying too much on estimates of the cost of building an equivalent structure today. They said Gardner should have taken more into account the mall’s vacancy rate, which was roughly 30 percent in 2019; for the age of the shopping center building, which was originally built in 1967; and for its dated design, including the enclosed pedestrian corridor at the front and the sloping floor of the former cinema.
The mall first appealed Gardner’s assessment to the city’s Board of Assessments, which approved a reduction of nearly $2.5 million. Dissatisfied with that reduction, the mall then appealed to the state.
The mall property consists of a large mall building that includes Hannaford and TJ Maxx, as well as properties in front of the mall that house Aroma Joe’s, Convenient MD, Dairy Queen, Governor’s Restaurant, and Taco Bell & KFC. The property where the McDonald’s is located, which is also located in front of the shopping center, has a different owner. Gardner noted that since 2019, national clinic chain Convenient MD has built and opened an office outside the mall, the city’s water department has moved into the mall, and Harbor Freight Tools has begun renovation work on a long-vacant portion of the mall. shopping center where he plans to open a store later this spring.
More articles from BDN
State grants $6M tax abatement to Ellsworth mall
For more visit IlmHunt.com
Latest News by IlmHunt.com