Cordish Power Plant Ltd. Partnership v. Supervisor of Assessments

BATTAGLIA, J. We are called upon to determine whether a ground lease 1 owned by the City of Baltimore must be considered in the ³ valuation of an “income producing commercial real property” 2 to which it is attached (for purposes of real property tax valuation), regardless of whether the lease itself has been proven to be restrictive of the use of the property. Cordish Power Plant Limited Partnership and Cordish Power Plant Number Two, LLC (collectively “Cordish”), Appellants, lease from the City two adjoining pieces of real estate on East Pratt Street in Baltimore City known as the Power Plant Building and the Pier IV Office Building. After the two properties were valued by the Supervisor of Assessments for Baltimore City, Appellee, together at $38,138,600 for real property tax purposes, Cordish challenged the valuations in separate cases before the Property Tax Assessment Appeals Board, which affirmed, and thereafter before the Maryland Tax Court. In both cases before the Tax Court, Cordish introduced appraisals and testimony that valued the properties at $29,900,000 collectively, based in part on the existence of ground leases owned by the City of Baltimore; the leases, themselves, however, were not introduced into evidence during the proceedings.

The Supervisor of Assessments for Baltimore City, Appellee, argued that consideration of the ground leases was contrary to Section 8-113 of the Tax-Property Article, Maryland Code (1985, 2007 RepLVol.), 3 which requires, ⁴ as a general rule, that interests subject to property tax under Section 6-102 of that Article be valued as though the lessee were the owner. The Tax Court affirmed the $38,138,600 valuation for the two properties collectively, 4 which was subsequently affirmed upon judicial review by the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. Cordish appealed and, prior to any proceedings in the Court of Special Appeals, we granted certiorari, 424 Md. 628 , 37 A.3d 317 (2012), to address the following question: Did the Maryland Tax Court err in its decision to discount the testimony offered by the Appellant because of the Tax Court’s reliance on an erroneous understanding of law, offered by the Appellee in its testimony, that Md.Code Ann., Tax-Prop. § 8-113 prohibited the analysis of a ground lease and its affect on a commercial valuation of a property? We shall hold that the Tax Court did not err in disregarding the effect of the ground leases, because Cordish did not ⁵ establish that the leases in issue restricted its use of the properties.

Commercial real property is valued, for property tax purposes, at its market value. Market value may be established in a myriad of ways, oftentimes depending on the context; three traditional methods are the cost to reproduce the property, comparison of prices of recently-sold comparable properties, and the capitalization of income approach. Under the cost to reproduce method, market value is the cost to build the same building or improvement on the land on which the property at issue is located. The Appraisal Institute, The Appraisal of Real Estate 335 (11th ed.1996).

The cost to reproduce or replace the building is reduced by depreciation and then added to the value of the land itself to arrive at the total appraisal of the entire property. Id. at 340-41. Costs of reproduction or replacement of the building may include direct costs of construction, such as material and labor, and indirect costs, such as financing costs. Depreciation of a building represents deterioration, which is caused by its age and condition, as well as its “obsolescence,” which includes consideration of its functional adequacy and the market demand for the particular type of building.

Id. at 341. Under the sales comparison approach, the value of a commercial property is dependent upon the range of prices of recently-sold properties that are comparable to the property in issue. Id. at 397. Comparable properties are of the same or similar nature and, typically, geographical location as the property to be valued.

Id. at 402. Once identified, comparable properties are juxtaposed with the property in issue to determine whether they differ in legal, financial and physical characteristics “that cause the prices paid for real estate to vary,” including: the real property rights conveyed in the sale, market conditions affecting the sale, location, physical qualities, and use or zoning restrictions, among others. Id. at 402-04. The prices of the comparable properties are adjusted to account for these differences, in order to insure that the sale ⁶ prices of the comparables comport with the characteristics and conditions of the property at issue.

Id. at 403-04. Under the capitalization of income approach, income earned from a property is most indicative of its value. Id. at 449. Essentially, the value of a property is based upon what income the property is expected to generate on an annual basis, reduced by its operating expenses to yield its net operating income. 5 Id. at 454, 515.

Once the net operating income is determined, comparable properties are consulted with respect to their market value as well as their net operating income during the relevant time in issue, in order to determine the capitalization rate or the rate that reflects the anticipated benefits and risk if the property were acquired. Id. at 459, 461, 514-15. In lieu of established capitalization rates for other properties, a property valuation based on the income approach may depend upon an assumed capitalization rate for the property in issue reliant upon market surveys of investor expectations. 6 Id. at 514 n. 2. The capitalization rate may be upwardly adjusted for the risk of investing in the property in issue, or the likelihood that the property will not produce its anticipated income, as the uncertainty of future income loss is considered to detract from a property’s market value.

Id. at 514-515; see also id. at 459 (“To a real estate investor, risk is the chance of incurring a financial loss and the uncertainty of realizing projected future benefits.”). Risk is evidenced by “the credit rating of the property’s tenants [and] the stability of the property’s income ⁷ stream.” Id. at 514. Once the capitalization rate is calculated, it is then applied to the property at issue, by dividing it into the net operating income to derive value. Id.

The higher the capitalization rate, the lower the value. Alfred A. Ring, The Valuation of Real Estate 232 (2d ed.1970). This last method, the income approach, is the preferred analysis in valuing an income producing commercial real property under Section 8-105(a)(l) of the Tax-Property Article: (a) Valuation. — (1) Except for land that is actively devoted to farm or agricultural use, the supervisor: (i) may value income producing real property by using the capitalization of income method or any other appropriate method of valuing the real property; and (ii) shall consider an income method in valuing income producing commercial real property. That is what the parties used here.

Cordish and the Supervisor of Assessments submitted competing appraisals and testimony to the Tax Court. They stipulated to the net operating income of the properties, as determined by an appraiser employed by the Supervisor of Assessments, who testified that she did not consider the ground lease in reaching her calculation because the ground leases were not provided to her, and, even if they had been provided to her, she was required to value the property in fee simple, i.e. as if the Cordish were the owner. The only dispute, therefore, appeared to be the capitalization rate to be applied to the property. Cordish, through its appraiser, presented testimony that the existence of the ground leases owned by Baltimore City, and the obligation to pay ground rent, made the property less marketable, raised the risk of investment, and thus required an increase in the overall capitalization rate; the ground leases, though, were not introduced into evidence.

Although Cordish’s appraiser concluded in both appraisals that, “[a] Leasehold Interest offsets a property’s marketability as compared to properties held in fee,” he acknowledged on cross-examination that had he valued the property in fee simple, the ⁸ capitalization rate would have been lower, resulting in a higher value for the property. His appraisals, however, alluded to the lack of restrictions associated with the property, stating, “We are unaware of any easements or restrictions which would hinder development of the site.” Cordish, nevertheless, maintained in its written submissions to the Tax Court that the existence of the ground leases required an increase in the overall capitalization rates and an ultimate decrease in the property’s value subject to taxation, “All contracts burdening a piece of property affect its marketability ... because contracts that affect a commercial property’s ability to make money, affect the Cap-Rate for purposes of valuation.” (emphasis added). In its Memorandum and Order, the Tax Court, after consolidating the two cases, affirmed the Supervisor’s higher assessments for the properties and determined that the Cordish appraisals valued the properties as leasehold interests, rather than in fee simple, contrary to Section 8-113 of Tax-Property Article. Valuing them as leasehold interests, the Tax Court found, served as “a meaningful detraction to the properties’ values” with which it could not agree, because the court could not “find any evidence upon which it can credibly extrapolate what [Cordish’s] valuations might have been if he had valued the properties as being held by the Petitioners in fee simple.” Determining that the Cordish appraisals were not rehable, the Tax Court chose to rely upon the appraisals submitted on behalf of the Supervisor of Assessments: The Court declines to rely on the analysis presented by [Cordish] because their foundations are at variance with the statutory directive for the properties’ valuations and there is no credible foundation by which the Court can cure this defect.

In contrast, the Court finds [the appraisals of the Supervisor of Assessments’] analysis both in conformance with the statutory directive and well reasoned. So, the Court is compelled to conclude that the Petitioners have not met the burden of proof necessary to justify a reversal of the [Property Tax Assessment Appeals Board] decisions. ⁹ The Circuit Court, thereafter, affirmed the decision of the Tax Court, and Cordish timely appealed. At the heart of this case is whether a ground lease may be considered in the valuation of a leasehold interest in income producing commercial property. If Cordish is correct, then the existence of a ground lease always would adversely affect the market value of the property.

In contrast, if the Supervisor of Assessments is correct, no ground lease may be considered in such a valuation, because of the instruction in Section 8-113 of the Tax-Property Article that the lessee be treated as the owner. Cordish appears to argue that any ground lease constitutes a burden on the use of commercial property, whereas the Supervisor of Assessments ostensibly contends that a ground lease can never be considered as a burden. We conclude, however, that neither Cordish nor the Supervisor of Assessments is correct in its argument. Under Section 6-102(e) of the Tax-Property Article, which is part of Title 6 of the Article, entitled “Taxable Property; Imposition of Tax; Setting Tax Rates,” Cordish’s leasehold interests in government-owned property, “with the privilege to use the property in connection with a business that is conducted for profit,” are subject to taxation, as if Cordish were the owner: (e) Interests in government property. — Unless exempted under § 7-211, § 7-211.1, or § 7-501 of this article, the interest or privilege of a person in property that is owned by the federal government, the State, a county, a municipal corporation, or an agency or instrumentality of the federal government, the State, a county, or a municipal corporation is subject to property tax as though the lessee or the user of the property were the owner of the property, if the property is leased or otherwise made available to that person: (1) by the federal government, the State, a county, a municipal corporation, or an agency or instrumentality of the federal government, the State, a county, or a municipal corporation; and ¹⁰ (2) with the privilege to use the property in connection with a business that is conducted for profit.

Section 8-113 of the Tax-Property Article, entitled “Valuation of interests subject to tax under § 6-102 of this article,” similarly prorides that the properties be valued as if Cordish were the owner: Interests subject to property tax under § 6-102 of this article shall be valued as if the lessee, person in possession, or user of the property were the owner of the property. It is this language of the lessee being the “owner of the property” upon which the Supervisor of Assessments