Portland Adventist Hospital v. Department of Revenue

8 Or. Tax 342
CourtOregon Tax Court
DecidedMay 6, 1980
StatusPublished

This text of 8 Or. Tax 342 (Portland Adventist Hospital v. Department of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Portland Adventist Hospital v. Department of Revenue, 8 Or. Tax 342 (Or. Super. Ct. 1980).

Opinion

BERNARD SHEVACH, Judge pro tempore.

Plaintiff appeals from defendant’s Order No. VL 78-732, dated December 12, 1978. In that order, defendant, on plaintiff’s appeal from the valuation of a medical office building by the assessor of Multnomah County, determined that its true cash value was in the amount of $3,696,000 as of the relevant assessment date of January 1, 1977. In its complaint, plaintiff alleged that the true cash value of the subject property did not exceed $2,300,000 at the assessment date, whereas defendant by its answer contended that the value of the improvement of $3,696,000, as set forth in the order, should be sustained. 1

*[344] The subject property, constructed with brick-bearing walls and concrete floors, is a four-story medical office building with a gross floor area of 73,920 square feet, of which the net rentable area is 54,727 square feet. Two elevators service the structure, and the interior is well appointed with carpeted floors, acoustical tiled ceilings and good quality lighting fixtures. A covered walkway approximately 150 feet in length connects the building with the Portland Adventist Hospital. The structure does not have its own heating plant or air conditioning equipment but the services are supplied both to it and the hospital by a separate, central plant. At the trial, testimony disclosed that both plaintiff and defendant agreed that the office building was attractive and well constructed.

The property is located in the southeast section of Portland, Oregon, approximately six miles from the downtown area. It is well situated, being in proximity with east-west crosstown arterials and approximately five blocks from the 1-205 Freeway. Also in proximity to the structure are a large shopping center, a commercial development, schools, residential and apartment developments. As of the assessment date of January 1, 1977, construction was complete except for minor particulars, and all available space was leased.

At the trial, plaintiff and defendant each had an appraiser as a witness and, additionally, the vice-president for finance of the medical center testified for plaintiff. Both of the appraisers are able, experienced men, and are well qualified as expert witnesses.

Plaintiff’s and defendant’s appraisers, in arriving at their respective valuations, each considered the three standard approaches to value; namely, the cost approach, the income approach and the market data approach. The objective of their considerations was to determine the true cash value of the building as of the assessment date within the intendment of ORS 308.205 and the statutorily mandated regulations of *[345] the Oregon Department of Revenue. 2 Their methodology was correct. Bend Millwork v. Dept. of Revenue, 285 Or 577, 592 P2d 986 (1979); Medical Building Land Co. v. Dept. of Rev., 283 Or 69, 582 P2d 416 (1978); Brooks Resources Corp. v. Dept. of Revenue, 286 Or 499, 595 P2d 1358 (1979).

In its quest for true cash value, or market value, this court, as the fact-finder, must determine which of the foregoing approaches or combinations of approaches to value best resolves its inquiry. The particular approach or combination of approaches finally selected is not determined by fixed principles of law, but is a factual determination that depends on the record developed in this case. See Medical Building Land Co. v. Dept. of Rev., supra, at 78, 79, and Brooks Resources Corp. v. Dept. of Revenue, supra, at 503,504.

The three approaches will now each be considered.

The theory of the market data approach is *[346] lucidly and succinctly stated as follows in Encyclopedia of Real Estate Appraising 23 (Friedman ed, 3rd ed 1978):

"The objective in the Market Approach is to predict the most probable selling price of the subject property. The rationale of the Market Approach is that a purchaser will usually not pay more for a property than he would be required to pay for a comparable alternative property (principle of substitution). Furthermore, a seller will not take less than he can obtain elsewhere in the market. The method of the Market Approach is an empirical investigation in which the prediction of the most probable selling price is based on actual sales of comparable properties.”

In the case at bar, plaintiff’s appraiser acknowledged that there were no recent sales of medical buildings directly comparable to the subject property. However, he did examine the sales of five dissimilar medical buildings and three other nonmedical buildings that, in his view, would qualify as alternative investments for a typical investor. The sales occurred between July 10, 1975, and March 6, 1978. Based on the market data approach, the appraiser concluded that the market value of the subject property would range from $2,275,000 to $2,425,000, although he noted that, in his own words, "comparable sales were not a conclusive indicator of value in this case because the medical buildings that had sold were all quite different from the subject * *

In his testimony, defendant’s appraiser repudiated the market data approach for the reason that, as he stated, "* * * [m]y study of the market indicated that there simply had been no exchanges of buildings that were in any way comparable to the — to the subject.

Although the market data approach is flawed by the paucity of data revealed by empirical investigation, nevertheless plaintiff’s comparable sales were supported by sufficient data to justify the finding of a value range of $2,275,000 to $2,425,000 as the market *[347] value of the subject property. In accepting this measure of value for this approach, the court heeds the following injunction of the Oregon Supreme Court in the case of Medical Building Land Co. v. Dept. of Rev., supra, at 76:

"Even if a particular approach is 'relatively weak and less supportable than other approaches,’ the approach should be used [considered] unless no data is available at 3.11 ^ ^

The theory of the cost approach has been defined as follows in Encyclopedia of Real Estate Appraising, supra, at 65:

" 'That approach in appraisal analysis which is based on the proposition that the informed purchaser would pay no more [for the subject property] than the cost of producing a substitute property with the same utility as the subject property. * * *’ ”

Thus, the cost approach, like the market approach, is premised on the principle of substitution. Here, however, instead of the empiric employment of the sales data of the market approach, the appraiser is concerned with analytic comparisons of construction costs derived from the market for explanation and justification of his estimate for reproduction cost of the subject property.

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Related

Brooks Resources Corp. v. Department of Revenue
595 P.2d 1358 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1979)
Medical Building Land Co. v. Department of Revenue
582 P.2d 416 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1978)
Sabin v. Department of Revenue
528 P.2d 69 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1974)
Bend Millwork Co. v. Department of Revenue
592 P.2d 986 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1979)
Mt. Bachelor, Inc. v. Department of Revenue
5 Or. Tax 526 (Oregon Tax Court, 1974)
Rogue Valley Manor v. State Tax Commission
419 P.2d 422 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1966)
Nepom v. Department of Revenue
536 P.2d 496 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1975)
Mt. Bachelor, Inc. v. Department of Revenue
539 P.2d 653 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1975)

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Bluebook (online)
8 Or. Tax 342, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/portland-adventist-hospital-v-department-of-revenue-ortc-1980.