NATIONAL
An Enduring Race Tax

New York Times

Property is generally worth less if it's owned by a Black American. That sobering fact, cemented by 150 years of assessment data, underpins inequality today. Black Americans' properties have been undervalued by home appraisers and overvalued by tax assessors. That double punch has left Black homeowners more prone to falling behind on their taxes and, ultimately, to dispossession.

ALASKA
Property assessments seem unfair? House Bill 347 aims to curb capricious, retaliatory assessors

Must Read Alaska

The bill is intended to restore trust in the property assessment process — trust that has been broke in at least Juneau and Haines, where properties were not only given extraordinary assessments, but when at least one property owner challenged the assessment, the assessor made a punishing decision to increase the assessment even more.

CALIFORNIA
3 Bay Area Streets Have The Most Expensive Office Rents In The U.S.

BisNow

Despite the challenges facing the Bay Area's office sector, three of the most expensive streets for office space are located in the region. Sand Hill Road in the Menlo Park submarket is the most expensive street in the U.S., University Avenue in the Palo Alto submarket is the fourth-most expensive — and Mission Street in San Francisco's South Financial District is the sixth-priciest street for office space.

COLORADO
‘We would lay our arms down:’ Is this the end of the property tax wars, or just another battle?

CPR News

It's a very special time of year. Spring buds are blooming. The fields have greened. And the state legislature is going to have another very complicated, very costly argument about property taxes. Yes, once again, state lawmakers are debating a big plan to reduce property tax rates. Once again, they'll be racing to do it in the final days of the legislative session.

FLORIDA
Starwood Sells Fort Lauderdale Office Buildings At 45% Discount

BisNow

Starwood Capital Group sold a four-building portfolio of offices outside Fort Lauderdale for $45M, just more than half of what it paid to acquire the buildings nearly a decade ago. A joint venture between YMP Real Estate Management and three entities tied to Nathan Pollack purchased the 373K SF portfolio for around $120 per SF, according to a release from the buyers.

GEORGIA
AT&T To Expand Into 2 More Buckhead Buildings It Previously Vacated

BisNow

AT&T has continued its march back to the office, expanding again at Lenox Park with a major new lease in space the firm previously relinquished. The telecommunications giant has signed a lease for all of 1055 and 1057 Lenox Park Blvd. in the Lenox Park office complex near Buckhead, three sources familiar with the deal tell Bisnow.

ILLINOIS
Cook County Tax Assessor Says Downtown Value Losses Exaggerated

The Real Deal

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi believes that public sentiment regarding plummeting commercial property values in downtown Chicago may be overstated.

INDIANA
Major e-commerce company leasing 1-million-square-foot Silos at Sanders Farm building

NWI Times

A single e-commerce company signed a lease to move into the gargantuan 1-million-square-foot "once-in-a-lifetime" industrial building in The Silos at Sanders Farm in Merrillville.

NEW YORK
Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Pain: Rocky Road Ahead For NYC's Migrant Shelter Hotels

BisNow

Roughly 16,000 New York City hotel rooms have been taken off the market to be used as shelters to house the migrants that have poured into the city over the past year. What comes next for those buildings when the migrant crisis ends is an open question.

OREGON
Ore. Tax Court Rejects Lowe's Valuation Reduction Arguments

Law360 Real Estate Authority

A Lowe's home improvement store was properly valued by comparing the sales values for occupied big box home improvement stores, the Oregon Tax Court said in a pair of rulings.

TENNESSEE
TikTok Signs One of Nashville’s Largest Office Deals Over Past Decade

CoStar News

Tech giant TikTok has formalized its plan to establish a permanent hub in Nashville, Tennessee, signing one of the city's largest office deals over the past decade as the company also contends with the mounting threat of a ban in the United States. It's also the latest in a string of high-profile deals the company has signed to rapidly expand its portfolio of offices across the country.

TEXAS
Analysis: Texas homeowners’ property taxes are down

The Texas Tribune

For the past five years, Republican lawmakers have been on a crusade to rein in the state's property taxes, among the highest in the nation. Last year, they went big with a $12.7 billion package comprised of tax breaks for homeowners and money for school districts to drive down how much they collect from property owners, which usually represents the biggest portion of Texans' property tax bills.

'Sticker shock' sweeps Galveston County after appraisals

GalvNews

Galveston County property owners this week have been opening appraisal district letters to learn the assessed values of their buildings and land have spiked from last year. Commercial property owners especially saw property values jump by millions of dollars this year, which means they'll have to pay higher taxes.

VERMONT
House passes property tax 'yield bill' with 15% increase

Vermont Business Magazine

This week marked a crucial milestone for Vermont's public education system as the House passed the annual yield bill, H.887, which aims to provide relief to property taxpayers and sets a clear path forward for education finance and taxation. It passed out of the House Wednesday on a vote of 101- 39, which, as is, would be sufficient to override a gubernatorial veto if it were to come to that.

VIRGINIA
Ousted Portsmouth assessor sues for wrongful termination, alleges firing over golf course taxes

Daily Press

The former city assessor who was ousted last year has filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination by the Portsmouth mayor and a council member. Patrick Dorris, whom the City Council fired in a 5-1 vote last spring, has filed a $5.35 million lawsuit in Portsmouth Circuit Court against Mayor Shannon Glover and council member Bill Moody, both in their individual and official capacities.