Minnesota commercial property owners are as wary of headlines in 2020 as anyone else. This has been a bruising year that includes an ongoing recession brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the Minneapolis riots triggered by the death of George Floyd that...
Commercial Property Tax Appeals
Part II: An argument for a land value tax
In a previous post to our commercial property tax appeal blog, we wrote about a Streets.MN article that argues that commercial property taxes imposed by Hennepin County and Minneapolis should be replaced by a land value tax that would ease the tax burden on commercial...
Part I: An argument for a land value tax
A stone’s throw away from Foshay Tower, an undeveloped parking lot covers an entire block of downtown Minneapolis real estate. Why does this prime spot host cars instead of a sparkling skyscraper? The owner explained his reasoning four years ago to Minnpost: “There...
The interplay of residential and commercial property tax rates
As Twin Cities metro area commercial property owners know, government officials and taxing bodies are confronted with a variety of difficult questions and challenges as they wrestle with setting tax levels for both business and residential properties. A real estate...
The unintended consequences of the evictions ban
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz recently extended the COVID-19 emergency through Oct. 12. Among the order's provisions is a ban on evictions. The White House recently issued a temporary order to stop evictions across the country through the end of the year. Help one, hurt...
Minneapolis lowers some commercial property tax hurdles
In the unrest that followed the death of George Floyd while in police custody, more than a thousand buildings were damaged with estimates of damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Minnesota law requires a full year of commercial property taxes to be paid...
More on “dark store”
Frequent readers of our Minnesota Commercial Property Tax Appeals Blog know that we recently wrote about reductions in commercial property tax bills in Michigan a few years ago. Owners of commercial properties on which big-box retail stores sat in Michigan’s U.P. were...
An introduction to “dark store” theory
Big-box stores are in many Minnesota communities, centers of commerce and employment, as well as gathering places where recipes, local news and gossip are exchanged by neighbors. Giant superstores are in many ways a modern necessity that provides one-stop shopping in...
Part II: A look at Minnesota’s different property tax classes
In a previous post to our Minnesota Commercial Property Tax Appeals Blog, we began looking at the states property tax classes: Residential, Agricultural, Commercial/Industrial/Public Utility and Other Residential. (Please check the previous post for an introduction to...
Part I: A look at Minnesota’s different property tax classes
Any time you dive into documents issued by Minnesota government, you are in danger of drowning in bureaucratic jargon, dense legalese, repetition and redundancy. The state’s websites and publications will never be mistaken for relaxing bedtime reading. Not so easily...
