Southlake Indiana, LLC owns the Southlake Mall located in Hobart, Indiana.  Only a portion of the Mall, however, is the subject of this appeal (“the subject property”). 

For the 2015 and 2016 tax years, the Assessor valued the subject property at $242.9 million.  Southlake subsequently challenged the assessments, filing appeals first with the Lake County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals (PTABOA) and then with the Indiana Board of Tax Review.  Because neither the PTABOA nor the Indiana Board acted on the appeals, Southlake initiated one appeal with this Court challenging both assessments.   

The Court conducted a trial on the matter via Zoom from August 17-21, 2020.  During the trial, both Southlake and the Assessor presented USPAP appraisals, along with the testimony of their preparers, valuing the subject property.  While both appraisals utilized the income capitalization approach to value the property, they arrived at very different results:  Southlake’s appraisal estimated the subject property’s market value-in-use to be $142.3 million in 2015 and $144.5 in 2016; the Assessor’s appraisal estimated the value of the subject property to be $259 million in 2015 and $241.7 million in 2016.

Southlake maintains that the Court should reject the Assessor’s appraisal because it fails to:

• comport with USPAP’s Ethics Rule;
• utilize market rental income data as required by Indiana law;
• remove the value associated with non-taxable business income and intangible assets; and
• utilize an appropriate capitalization rate.