Rite Aid Corp. v. City of Troy Board of Assessment Review

47 Misc. 3d 791, 1 N.Y.S.3d 793
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 5, 2015
StatusPublished

This text of 47 Misc. 3d 791 (Rite Aid Corp. v. City of Troy Board of Assessment Review) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rite Aid Corp. v. City of Troy Board of Assessment Review, 47 Misc. 3d 791, 1 N.Y.S.3d 793 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Patrick J. McGrath, J.

Petitioner, a lessee under a 20-year lease of a freestanding retail pharmacy located at 272 Hoosick Street in the City of Troy, commenced proceedings pursuant to RPTL article 7 to challenge the assessment imposed for each of the tax years 2011, 2012, and 2013.

Both parties sought summary judgment prior to trial. The City argued that a recent Third Department decision, Matter of Rite Aid Corp. v Otis (102 AD3d 124 [3d Dept 2012]), was dis-positive in its favor. In that case, the Court held that

“[a]lthough the proper valuation of stand-alone, national retail pharmacies with long-term leases has been the subject of six prior appeals to this Court — and much debate — it is well settled that [t]he best evidence of value . . . is a recent sale of the subject property between a seller under no compulsion to sell and a buyer under no compulsion to buy.” (Id. at 126-127 [internal quotation marks and citations omitted].)

The Court further held that the sale of the property in question was an arm’s length transaction, and that “the price paid by the purchaser in this matter was consistent with the value of the property as determined by respondents’ expert (subject to market trends).” (Id. at 127.) “Under these circumstances, Supreme Court’s decision to credit the appraisal offered by petitioner was against the weight of the evidence.” (Id.)

The City argued that it was entitled to summary judgment because there was an arm’s length sale of the property in question in the instant matter. In a decision and order dated May 16, 2014, this court found that Otis “is the Third Department’s most recent articulation of the law governing this case, which this Court is bound to follow,” and therefore, “any trial court would be required to reject petitioner’s claim that retail sale and leases provide better evidence of fee simple market value tha[n] a normal arm’s length transaction of recent vintage.” However, this court also noted that the Otis decision (and all prior cases in that line of precedent) concerned decisions rendered after trial, which focused on an assessment of the expert witness’ credibility. Additionally, unlike Otis, the sale [793]*793price and the assessed price were not “consistent,” and therefore, the court denied the motion.

The matter was tried before this court on June 11, 2014. Petitioner’s appraiser testified that he utilized three methods to determine a capitalization rate (or “cap” rate). The first method was using four sales wherein he claims that he derived the capitalization rate by dividing the net operating income by the sale price. However, on cross-examination, it was established that his report only provided income for items 1 and 2. The report does not include expenses associated with any of the four comparables. Petitioner’s report indicates that “the rates were obtained from income and expense statements provided at the time of sale and/or through discussions with the brokers involved in the sales.” The rates for the four com-parables were as follows:

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The appraisal report indicated that “given the subject’s specific location in the market, we would expect the subject’s cap rate to fall towards the middle of the range” and that a cap rate of 8.5% was appropriate.

Petitioner’s appraiser also testified that he used two additional methods to determine the cap rate: Korpacz surveys and the Debt Service Coverage Ratio Formula.

After the petitioner rested, respondent moved to dismiss, relying primarily on a recent Court of Appeals case, Matter of Board of Mgrs. of French Oaks Condominium v Town of Amherst (23 NY3d 168 [2014]). This court granted the motion, but allowed petitioner to bring the instant motion to reargue.

Discussion

A motion to reargue shall be based upon matters of fact or law allegedly overlooked or misapprehended by the court in determining the prior motion, but shall not include any matters of fact not offered on the prior motion. (CPLR 2221 [d] [2].)

The assessment for each year under review enjoys a presumption of validity. The petitioner must produce substantial evidence to overcome the presumption. (Matter ofFMC Corp. [Per-oxygen Chems. Div.] v Unmack, 92 NY2d 179, 187 [1998].) It is well established, and uncontested in this proceeding, that [794]*794petitioner can overcome the presumption by demonstrating the existence of a valid and credible dispute as to value, typically in the form of a “detailed, competent appraisal based on standard, accepted appraisal techniques and prepared by a qualified appraiser.” (Matter of Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. v Assessor of Town of Geddes, 92 NY2d 192, 196 [1998].) The ultimate strength, credibility and persuasiveness are not germane for the threshold inquiry. The court’s inquiry is limited to a determination of whether the documentary and testimonial basis proffered by the petitioner is based upon sound theory and objective data. (Id.)

In French Oaks, a condominium board submitted an appraisal report in which its appraiser applied an income cap method to establish value. The Court held that the first step required determination of the net operating income of the condominiums. The second step was determination of the appropriate cap rate. “This can be accomplished by taking the annual net operating income of a comparable and dividing that figure by its sale price.” (23 NY3d at 171, citing Appraisal Institute, The Appraisal of Real Estate at 514 [11th ed 1996].) The Court held that “ [t] o compute the net operating income for the four comparables, the appraiser had to ascertain their gross incomes and expenses.” (Id. at 172.) Although the appraiser offered specific figures for these items in his report, he indicated that they were derived from what he referred to as “forecast financials.” (Id.) The appraiser did not explain how he arrived at these income and expense figures and “did not otherwise identify the sources for this component.” (Id.)

The Court noted that it had not previously analyzed Uniform Rules for Trial Courts (22 NYCRR) § 202.59 (g) (2), which states that

“[t]he appraisal reports shall contain a statement of the method of appraisal relied on and the conclusions as to value reached by the expert, together with the facts, figures and calculations by which the conclusions were reached. If sales, leases or other transactions involving comparable properties are to be relied on, they shall be set forth with sufficient particularity as to permit the transaction to be readily identified, and the report shall contain a clear and concise statement of every fact that a party will seek to prove in relation to those comparable properties. The appraisal reports also may contain photographs of the property under review [795]*795and of any comparable property that specifically is relied upon by the appraiser, unless the court otherwise directs.”

However, the Court reviewed well established case law which holds that “an appraisal should be disregarded when a party violates section 202.59 (g) (2) by failing to adequately ‘set forth the facts, figures and calculations supporting the appraiser’s conclusions.’ ” (French Oaks at 176 [citations omitted].)

The Court focused on the second step of cap rate analysis provided by the Board’s appraiser, noting that

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Related

Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. v. Assessor of Town of Geddes
699 N.E.2d 899 (New York Court of Appeals, 1998)
Board of Managers v. Town of Amherst
12 N.E.3d 1072 (New York Court of Appeals, 2014)
FMC Corp. v. Unmack
92 N.Y.2d 179 (New York Court of Appeals, 1998)
Adcor Realty Corp. v. Srogi
54 A.D.2d 1096 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1976)
Miriam Osborn Memorial Home Ass'n v. Assessor of City of Rye
80 A.D.3d 118 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2010)
Rite Aid Corp. v. Otis
102 A.D.3d 124 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2012)
Frontier Park v. Assessor of Town of Babylon
293 A.D.2d 608 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
47 Misc. 3d 791, 1 N.Y.S.3d 793, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rite-aid-corp-v-city-of-troy-board-of-assessment-review-nysupct-2015.