Glenpointe Associates v. Township of Teaneck

10 N.J. Tax 380
CourtNew Jersey Tax Court
DecidedMarch 8, 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 10 N.J. Tax 380 (Glenpointe Associates v. Township of Teaneck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Glenpointe Associates v. Township of Teaneck, 10 N.J. Tax 380 (N.J. Super. Ct. 1989).

Opinion

CRABTREE, J.T.C.

This local property tax case involves the tax valuation of Loew’s Glenpointe Hotel for tax years 1984 through 1987. The property is the crown jewel in an upscale development [384]*384complex that also includes residential condominiums, two office buildings, a parking garage and retail shops.

The assessments, including land and buildings, are as follows:

Block & Lot 1984 1985 1986 1987

3720 5 $31,095,700 $35,301,700 $30,924,300 $30,924,300

3720 6 855,600 855,600 1,044,400 1,044,400

4403 1 183,500 183,500 298,600 298,600

3712 18 169,000 169,000 206,300 206,300

$32,303,800 $36,509,800 $32,473,600 $32,473,600

The uses of the subject property, identified by block and lot, are as follows:

Block & Lot ' Use

3720 5 Hotel & Spa

3720 6 Hotel Parking Lot

4403 1 Hotel Employee Parking Lot

3712 18 HVAC Building *

* This building services the East Office Building as well as the hotel.

The Loew’s Glenpointe Hotel is a full-service, luxury-class hotel situated on a parcel of 9.27 acres. The hotel has 347 guest rooms, approximately 19,500 square feet of meeting space, two restaurants, a lounge, a lobby bar and a health club known as “The Spa at Glenpointe.”

The facility enjoys a prominent location at the interchange of Interstate Route 95 and DeGraw Avenue in Teaneck and is located exactly three miles from the George Washington Bridge. The edifice has an imposing facade finished in black anodized aluminum. It is a prominent landmark, highly visible when approached from either direction on 1-95.

The hotel opened for business on November 15, 1983. The average occupancy in 1984, the first full year of operation, was 64%, while the average room rate in that year was $82.04. The [385]*385occupancy increased to 70.4% in 1985, while the average room rate increased to $94.14. The average occupancy fell off slightly in 1986 to 69.6% while the average room rate continued to rise (to $98.38). In 1987 the occupancy declined to 64.8% but the average room rate increased to $104.39.

The total construction costs, both direct and indirect, for the hotel and the spa were $31,443,732. Plaintiff paid $1,052,910, exclusive of off-site improvements required by the purchase contract, for about 48 acres of vacant land which included the 9.47 acres which became the hotel site.

Plaintiff’s expert was a recognized authority on hotel and motel valuation. He has valued more than 500 lodging facilities in nearly every state in the United States over a recent 12-year span and he claims to possess hands-on knowledge and experience as an investor in hotels.

Relying exclusively on the income method, the expert estimated the true value of the hotel for tax valuation purposes as follows:

10/1/83 $17,900,000

10/1/84 18,100,000

10/1/85 21,000,000

10/1/86 27,200,000

In arriving at these value estimates the expert began with the actual income and expense for 1986, which he adjusted for a stabilized occupancy rate of 70% and room department expense of 24%. (Actual expense in that category was 27.4%.). He then posited net income for other tax years by adjusting up or down from 1986. In order to arrive at the true value of the real property itself, the expert undertook to eliminate business value and the value of the personal property.

He opined that the business value of a hotel is reflected in the compensation paid to a professional management agent to assume responsibility for daily operations of the hotel, thereby permitting the owner to maintain only a passive interest. That compensation is measured by a percentage of total hotel revenues. In this case the management agreement between the [386]*386owner and Loew’s Corporation, the management company, calls for a payment to Loews of 3% of total revenue for each of the first two fiscal years of operation and 3.25% of total revenues for each year thereafter. The expert utilized the percentages in the management contract as his adjustment for business value as he concluded that the contract reflected the industry norm for hotels of the subject’s size and type.

The expert made two adjustments to eliminate the value of personal property, i.e., the furniture and equipment. He achieved the return of personal property by positing a replacement reserve equal to 3% of total hotel revenues; the return on personal property was estimated by positing a rate of return approximating the interest rate on hotel mortgages for the tax years in question, which he applied to the depreciated book value of the personal property.

Thus, the income posited by the expert, after all the aforementioned adjustments, was as follows:

1984 1985 1986 1987

Stabilized net income before real estate taxes 4,392,000 $4,549,000 $4,636,000 $4,822,000

Less: income attributed to business 546,000 565,000 624,000 649,000

Personal property 1,145,000 1,220,000 1,083,000 938,000

Stabilized net income attributable to real estate $2,701,000 $2,764,000 $2,929,000 $3,235,000

The expert applied a capitalization rate to these stabilized and adjusted net income estimates to arrive at the value conclusions set forth earlier in this opinion. He developed his capitalization rate by means of the mortgage-equity band of investment [387]*387method, postulating a 75% mortgage position and a 25% equity position. He averred that a mortgage term of 30 years would be appropriate for a hotel of the subject’s age and quality. In selecting the appropriate mortgage interest rate for each year in issue, the expert relied upon data published by the American Council of Life Insurance (ACLI), focusing upon mortgage interest rates and constants for hotel and motel loans made by ACLI members in 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986. He refined his analysis further by concentrating on mortgage interest rates for the third and fourth quarters of the pretax years 1983-1986. He averaged the rates for those two quarters in each year and applied the constant appropriate to a 30-year amortization schedule.

He posited a 10% cash-on-cash equity return for each year.

Finally, he applied an unweighted, unclassified assessment-to-sales ratio to the actual tax rate for each tax year in order to account for local property taxes in the capitalization rate. Thus, the expert’s capitalization rate looked like this for each year:

70% mortgage, constant 13.22% 9.91%

25% equity @ 10% 2.50%

Effective tax rate 3.28% x 82.91% 2.72%

15.13%

Say 15.1 %

75% mortgage, constant 13.65% 10.24%

Effective tax rate 3.45% x 75.06% 2.59%

15.33%

Say 15.3 %

[388]*3881986

75% mortgage, constant 12.39% 9.29%

Effective tax rate 3.57% X 60.38% 2.16%

13.95%

Say 14.0 %

75% mortgage, constant 10.09% 7.57%

Effective tax rate 3.81% X 47.34% 1.80%

11.87%

Say 11.9 %

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Bluebook (online)
10 N.J. Tax 380, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/glenpointe-associates-v-township-of-teaneck-njtaxct-1989.