Lamm Associates v. Borough of West Caldwell

1 N.J. Tax 373
CourtNew Jersey Tax Court
DecidedJune 9, 1980
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 1 N.J. Tax 373 (Lamm Associates v. Borough of West Caldwell) 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
Lamm Associates v. Borough of West Caldwell, 1 N.J. Tax 373 (N.J. Super. Ct. 1980).

Opinion

HOPKINS, J. T. C.

This is an appeal from judgments of the Essex County Board of Tax Appeals as to the assessed value of property described as Block 81B, Lot 9, in West Caldwell.

The following schedule shows the original assessment, County Board Judgment and claimed assessment values of the parties:

County Taxing
Year Assessment Board Taxpayer District
1975 $687,200 $611,600 $523,000 $650,000
1976 $611,600 $611,600 $523,000 $650,000
1977 $611,600 $549,000 $523,000 $650,000
1978 $611,600 $549,000 $523,000 $650,000

The issues presented to the Court are, what is the true value of this property as of the appropriate assessment dates and, further, in the event true value exceeds the original assessment for any year, whether said assessment can be adjusted upward.

The property involved is located on the north side of Patton Drive in the Essex-Passaic Industrial Park, located in the Borough of West Caldwell. It is rectangular in shape with 315 front feet on Patton Drive and a constant depth of 445 feet. The total land area is 140,175 square feet, equivalent to approximately 3.22 acres. The site is level and improved, with all public utilities, including municipal water and sewers, gas, electricity and telephone. There are sewer line easements along two of the boundary lines which do not adversely affect utilization of the site as they are within the set back requirements for construction. It is zoned for light manufacturing.

The property is improved with a modern one-story concrete block and steel industrial building, erected in 1973, and containing 35,350 square feet, of which approximately 3,640 square feet is air conditioned. It is full sprinklered and has a 20-foot clear span except for the air conditioned area, which has a low clearance with dead storage area above it. It is owner occupied, having been purchased for $580,750 on December 19, 1973.

[377]*377The plaintiff introduced testimony through an expert witness in support of its position that the true value as of all assessment dates was $523,000. Said expert testified that he placed chief reliance on the Market Data Approach and the Income Approach in evaluating the property. The Market Data Approach compares the subject property with similar properties recently sold. After adjustments for differences in time, location and physical characteristics, a value, or range of values, is suggested for the subject property. In the Income Approach, the gross rental value of the property is estimated. From the estimated gross rental there is deducted a factor for possible vacancies and collection losses. This results in effective gross income. Then all the expenses involved in running the property are subtracted, resulting in net income. Net income is the money which an investor could expect to receive through an investment in the property. It is computed into a value by means of a capitalization rate which embodies consideration of capital cost, remaining economic life of the property, and the degree of risk involved.

Neither expert witness in this matter utilized the cost approach in valuing the subject property.

In the Market Data Approach, plaintiff’s expert utilized four transactions. The first transaction was a sale of improved property at Four Fairfield Crescent in West Caldwell.

The sale property consisted of 3.53 acres and was improved by a single-story industrial building containing a total of 25,000 square feet, 10 percent being air conditioned offices. It was a converted airplane hangar. The sale took place in July, 1976, at a sale price of $13.40 per square foot of improved space.

The second transaction was a purchase at a sheriff’s sale of property located at 15 Patton Drive which was one lot removed from the property under consideration. At this distress sale, the property was purchased at $14.20 per square foot.

The third transaction also involved the property located at 15 Patton Drive and took place on August 29, 1978. At that time the property sold for $18.10 per square foot. The building did not have any office space and had a land area approximately two-thirds of an acre less than the property being valued.

[378]*378The fourth transaction was a sale of property located'at 11 Patton Drive, immediately adjacent to the property under review. That property sold, on March 18, 1977, for $16.25 per square foot. The land area was approximately three-fourths of an acre less than the property being valued.

Plaintiff’s expert, on the basis of an analysis of the aforesaid four transactions, arrived at a value of $14.50 per square foot for the subject property, or a total value of $522,000.

Plaintiff’s expert also utilized the Income Approach by comparing net leases. As such, he analyzed five leases, together with three proposed offers to lease, in an attempt to determine the economic rent of the subject property. The actual leases were consummated during the period 1973 through August 1975 and showed a range from $1.70 per square foot in 1973 to $2.03 as of August 1975 with a lease at $2.15 per square foot consummated in April 1975.

The $1.70 per square foot lease was estimated after recognizing that the lease was a gross rental lease at $2.25 per square foot. This property did not have any office space, and its land area was approximately two-thirds of an acre less than the property under review.

The next lease was entered into in 1973, at a rate of $1.75 per square foot and was located on Fairfield Crescent. It was for a period of ten years. This property was not serviced by sewers, a fact which plaintiff’s expert agreed would make it less desirable than a property with sewers.

The next lease, in point of time, was a lease in June 1974 of property located at 10 Patton Drive, across the street from the property under review. This lease ran for a period of 20 years and was at the rate of $1.75 per square foot. It was a much larger building on a smaller piece of land.

The last two leases utilized were entered into in 1975. In April 1975 a lease at $2.15 per square foot was consummated pursuant to an option. The expert did not know whether or not this was a new entry. The other lease, commencing August 15, 1975, was at $2.03 per square foot and was for a period of five years.

[379]*379The plaintiff’s expert’s testimony reflected an increasing rental per square foot for the years under review. The offers to lease, which plaintiff’s expert testified to, namely $1.60, $1.60 and $2.10, during the respective years 1975, 1976 and 1977, also show that trend. However, offers to lease are not consummated transactions and could well change, depending upon the actual lease term and conditions.

Plaintiff’s expert computed his valuation on the Income Approach by arriving at an economic rent of $1.75 per square foot, which resulted in a computation of $63,000. From this he subtracted a 5 percent vacancy loss of $3,150 and arrived at a figure of $59,850. This figure was further reduced by estimated expenses of insurance, $1,000; repairs and maintenance at 5 percent, $3,150; and management at 3 percent, $1,795; or a total of $5,945. This resulted in a net income of $53,905, of which he deemed $12,282 as being applicable to the land having a value of $45,000 per acre, or $144,500.

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1 N.J. Tax 373, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lamm-associates-v-borough-of-west-caldwell-njtaxct-1980.