20-FOLD INCREASE IN GALLUN ASSESSMENT

VACANT WATER STREET LOT ASSESSMENT JUMPS 2040%

By Michael Horne

The days of double-digit growth in property assessments in Milwaukee are last year's history for most owners here. But one prominent property is facing a triple-digit hike in value from $226,000 to $4,539,000 – a whopping 2,040 percent increase. And that’s just for the land! (The assessment for the site's improvements was unchanged, at $1,000.)

This weekend, the City of Milwaukee Assessor’s Office released the result of its 2007 revaluation of real property as of January 1^st. Although reports indicate assessment levels are flat, as a consequence of a soft housing market, in at least one neighborhood land values are skyrocketing, even as the value of improvements is sinking.

That’s where you’ll find 1781 N. Water St., a 226,948 square foot riverfront site that was once the home to the Gallun Tannery, and which has been awaiting development for over a decade. Chances are the huge boost in assessment might trigger some action. That’s a lot of tax to pay for dirt, and with no income being generated.

The tannery is a Third Ward-sized property located in the Brady Street area, and is the last developable property there of its size – about five acres. Its riverfront status presumably justifies the high assessment, in this era when the river is being lined with condos.

A quick examination of recently released assessor's figures provides some insight into the intricacies of the assessment process beyond the occasional 20-fold increase.

For example, it appears that single family and duplex property owners in the Brady Street area will find their assessments the same, according to a quick survey.

Things get a little more interesting in the commercial sector. A commercial building at 815 E. Brady Street, home to Bosley on Brady, is valued at $780,000, same as last year. However, a look at the figures shows its land value (which is always measured first) increased from $16,200 to $90,000. The rise was compensated by a decline in the value of the building, which dropped from $763,500 to $690,000. Josephine Fazio can tell you the same story over at her cleaning shop, where the land value jumped from $6,500 to $36,000 while the total value of her property remained at $249,000. A more remarkable example is at 1850 N. Water St., the former Five & Ten tap, which went from $28,000 to $215,800 for the value of its land, a miserable little slip cut into a hillside. The whole remained at $292,000. Don’t expect any appeals, though – a Madison outfit bought the place for $550,000 in February, a figure the assessor will duly note the next time properties are revalued. The Glorioso brothers saw one of their Brady Street properties (at 1016-22) increase in land value from $22,500 to $125,000, while the building did a freefall from $471,506 to $383,000.

Some places got hit both ways, such as 1228 E. Brady St., home of Miss Groove Intimate and a couple of apartments. There the land increased from $40,300 to $122,000 and the building increased from $375,700 to $392,000, possibly attributable to the installation of maple flooring there which was recycled from my old house. That’s still a 23 per cent increase, but it is mighty good flooring.

A vacant lot at 1348 E. Brady Street did not follow the trend of its developed neighbors, for some reason. Frank Crivello saw the value of it go from $60,000 to $60,800.

Well, that’s the first impression from one tiny, and not necessarily representative, sample of Milwaukee. Your property might be worth less, but your land is worth more. If you piece together the economics of it, this is not an entirely bad thing, since it will encourage development of vacant and underutilized properties – either that, or usher in a wave of tax foreclosures.