lville88
March 10, 2004, 07:33 AM
This NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/10/business/10prop.html) is mostly informational and not overly interesting but it does contain something I found interesting.
In making a play for the Compaq Center, Lakewood Church faced competition from the Crescent Real Estate Equities Company, a publicly traded company based in Fort Worth and the owner of Greenway Plaza, the five-million-square-foot high-end office complex that surrounds the arena.
Crescent, which hoped to tear down the arena and eventually put up a new office building, sued the city after the proposal from Lakewood Church was accepted, saying that the lease would violate deed restrictions on the arena. The suit was settled last year, after the city agreed to buy 5.5 acres of space in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center from Crescent for $33 million.
I wonder if the city took into account the tax consequences of taking the church's offer? Not only do they lose a ton in property taxes but a new office building brings in tax paying tenants. I'd also love to know what the fair value was on the property the city bought from Crescent. This is just speculation on my part but I would guess the city is taking a huge loss on this deal with nary a person willing to step up and oppose the country's largest church(also mentioned in the article).
BTW, it mentions there are 30 churches in the country with 8000+ members. Scary.
In making a play for the Compaq Center, Lakewood Church faced competition from the Crescent Real Estate Equities Company, a publicly traded company based in Fort Worth and the owner of Greenway Plaza, the five-million-square-foot high-end office complex that surrounds the arena.
Crescent, which hoped to tear down the arena and eventually put up a new office building, sued the city after the proposal from Lakewood Church was accepted, saying that the lease would violate deed restrictions on the arena. The suit was settled last year, after the city agreed to buy 5.5 acres of space in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center from Crescent for $33 million.
I wonder if the city took into account the tax consequences of taking the church's offer? Not only do they lose a ton in property taxes but a new office building brings in tax paying tenants. I'd also love to know what the fair value was on the property the city bought from Crescent. This is just speculation on my part but I would guess the city is taking a huge loss on this deal with nary a person willing to step up and oppose the country's largest church(also mentioned in the article).
BTW, it mentions there are 30 churches in the country with 8000+ members. Scary.