All Cook County commercial property owners,
We are getting a clearer picture of how the new Cook County Assessor plans to overhaul the real estate tax assessment process. Every three year years, townships go through a re-assessment process by the Assessor’s office to verify valuations. In response to public pressure that homeowners are bearing the burden of the county tax bill, commercial property owners are being hit with unprecedented increased assessments.
The first township to undergo the re-assessment was Evanston. In years past, the Assessors office used an almost 12% CAP rate to determine the assessed value of apartment buildings and 9.25% for office and commercial buildings. The new Assessor is currently applying a 6% CAP for apartment buildings, 7.25% for office buildings, and 7.25% for commercial buildings. The result has been many of the apartment buildings in Evanston being notified their assessed value has doubled or tripled from last year. The 214-unit Amli building in Evanston made headlines when they were notified their assessed value went from $25.7 million to $74.5 million.
Below is the list of townships currently under the re-assessment period and could be subject to increase:
Norwood Park, Evanston, New Trier, Elk Grove, Maine, Northfield, Barrington, Leyden, Wheeling, Palatine, Schaumburg, Niles, Hanover.
Areas closest to the city, where large amounts of commercial investment are still ongoing, have the most amount of time to prepare. Rogers Park, Hyde Park, Lake, West Chicago, South Chicago, and North Chicago were re-assessed last year and are not due to be re-assessed under the current administration until 2021, with a corresponding tax bill increase in 2022.
Next year the re-assessment will cover the south and western suburbs of Cook County, such as Berwyn, Cicero, and Calumet.
Commercial property owners, particularly apartment building owners, need to be aware of the looming tax increase. Investors adding properties should factor an increased tax bill into their valuations going forward.