Church Street Park Appraisal(s)
Metro has posted an updated appraisal of Church Street Park dated October 12, 2018 here.
The cover page of this update refers to a September 12 revision also. I asked for that. It's not on a Metro web site. But I've posted it here. The values are different -- about $5.5 million in the September version and about $4.6 million in the October version.
I have more thoughts about this...but I'm short on time today. So just three quick notes:
First, there is an assumption baked into the appraisal that I think a lot of people would disagree with. The appraiser suggests that there is not a demand for park space downtown. The comment is:
"...the current demand for public green space is unknown in the Central Business District. It would be nice but, other than for a select few, the park is underutilized."
Aside from this questionable assumption about the need for park space downtown, I think we have to assume that "select few" is a really bad choice of words in referring people who are experiencing homelessness.
Second, I believe there is an error in the appraisal that impacts the appraiser's conclusion. This needs to be fixed.
Page 32 of the most recent version looks at some comparable sales -- two of them are 805 Lea and 421/425 5th Avenue South. You can see the sale dates for the two properties listed in the chart on page 32. It says 805 Lea was sold in 2016 and 421/415 5th Ave S was sold in 2018:The same two properties are listed in another chart on page 37 with the sales dates reversed from the first chart:
Online property records suggest that the chart on page 37 is correct:
This should be corrected.
Third, the whole point of my legislation a few months ago about getting an updated appraisal was to have it take into account any changes to zoning and entitlements that the developer will seek (and get). I'm told that this information is not available at this time and that I should go ask the developer.
I probably won't do that. Instead, I think I'll wait for legislation to come to the Council (next year, I'm told). At that point, as required by the law the Council passed in August, I'll look to receive an updated appraisal that reflects the zoning and entitlement improvements being sought for the developer.