Assessments stir downtown activity

Byron Thomas is selling his downtown Springfield building at 134 W. Park Central Square, the home of Mister Furniture, after 19 years of ownership.

Nicola Gilardi on March 1 bought the carriage house in which his restaurant, Ristorante Gilardi, operates, as well as the main building in front of the restaurant at 820 E. Walnut St.

Thomas said he’s selling after his property appraised for $509,000 – a $300,000 hike since 2001 – in the Greene County Assessor’s latest assessments.

“My profits in the business haven’t gone up nearly that proportion, so I decided I don’t just want to pay out all of my profits in taxes and maybe it’s just time to let loose of it,” Thomas said.

The building is listed with Sam Freeman of Center City Development Co. Freeman would not disclose the listing price. Thomas retains ownership of the parking lot behind the building.

Gilardi, on the other hand, is expanding his business. He said he purchased the Gray Gables house in front of his restaurant from Jim Mace for “close to a million dollars.” The properties appraised for $433,100 on April 7, according to the assessor’s Web site.

Now that he owns both buildings, Gilardi plans to open an office, catering center and possibly a wine and cheese bar or banquet and reception hall in the 114-year-old house.

The second floor of the house will continue to be leased as four separate residential apartments.

Sticker shock

Gilardi’s purchase price is indicative of rising downtown property values.

Jeff Schrag of Recess Properties has felt the sting, citing 10 percent to 20 percent increases this year for several of his downtown properties and a tripled assessment for the building that houses Flame restaurant, at 310–314 W. Walnut St. last year.

Schrag said he intends to appeal the new assessments.

But some property owners say the higher property values signal downtown’s success as a center of redevelopment.

Jim Shirato, owner of several parking areas and buildings downtown, including Vandivort Center, said the new values reflect sweeping improvements.

“I remember when we had such a negligible assessment (downtown) that it was laughable,” he said. “It is somewhat encouraging to me that after being through the desolation of downtown and spending a lot of money and bringing many companies into the downtown area, now the problems we’re having are problems that deal with more success,” Shirato said.

The irritation for many of the property owners comes not from the increased assessments but from the suddenness with which they occurred.

“In my fantasy world, the increases would be capped, so you wouldn’t have a crazy doubling or tripling of values,” Schrag said. “The increases would be phased in over many years.”

Shirato, who said the assessments of his properties’ values have increased by more than 150 percent, agreed.

“The assessor’s office has been negligent in bringing values forward on a consistent basis,” he said. “The result is that now they have this huge increase, and it’s drawing the ire of many people who don’t have the ability to budget this increase on such short notice.”

Phone calls to the Greene County Assessor’s Office were not returned by press time. Rick Kessinger was elected county assessor in November and took office Feb. 2, succeeding Jean Twitty, who retired.

Downtown Realtor Freeman wonders state lawmakers hold the solution.

“It seems like it puts people in a pretty rough situation,” he said. “If we’re going to lease property downtown, let’s say for five years, if the property owner is paying the taxes, this could be a real shock in terms of what you’ve agreed to in rent and what you’re stuck with for years under a lease. I know it’s state law, and I know the assessor’s office can’t change state law, but I wish lawmakers would look at some kind of a cap on any given year’s increase.”

None of the property owners will know exactly how these new values will affect their tax liability until levis are set at the end of September. The taxes are based on the levy on the assessed value of the property, which is a percentage of the appraised value.