In another example that Save Davidson is a force to be reckoned with on town decisions and holding decision makers accountable, the group commissioned an independent appraisal of the Town owned Beaty Street property. Results were presented at a packed house presentation Davidson's Homewood Suites on Thursday night. Here is the press release out by the group after the presentation.
DAVIDSON, NC – After months of trying to get answers from the Town of Davidson regarding a seemingly low appraisal of the true market value of the Beaty Street Property, Save Davidson, a citizen group fighting the proposed development, contracted with an independent company to conduct an appraisal.
Valbridge Property Advisors/John Bosworth and Associates returned an appraisal recently of the Beaty Street Property at $4.6 million, more than twice the amount the Town of Davidson has shared as the appraised value. Save Davidson shared the new appraisal information at an open meeting this evening.
For months, the Town of Davidson has shared that the 19 acres of Beaty Street Property appraised at $1.6 million. The appraisal was last conducted in May 2016 by T.B. Harris & Associates. An update of the original appraisal was conducted by the same company in July 2017 and came in at $1.9 million. When this prime property is compared with other land in the area, which appraises at higher values, citizens became increasingly concerned that town officials were selling town-owned land at a low price. This has been a source of great dismay considering the opposition to the development and the documentation that the private developer plans to sell a portion of the land for as much as $4 million for a hotel.
Added to the concern was an e-mail (revealed through a FOIA request) that Davidson Commissioner Stacey Anderson sent to Jamie Justice, Davidson Town Manager, on April 18, 2017, in which she wrote, “Is it possible to get a second appraisal? Something is off, if we think the land is only worth $84k per acre and DPP thinks they can sell the residential and commercial parcels for $4M.” Despite her concerns, she voted on July 11 for the Town to proceed in contract negotiations with a private developer.
Some major points about the recent independent appraisal contracted by Save Davidson:
§ Valbridge Property Advisors, North America’s largest appraisal and advisory firm, conducted valuation of the Beaty Street Property in response to months of requests from the community due to the seemingly low value reported in appraisals contracted by the Town.
§ As documented in the Valbridge report, appraisals should reflect the highest and best use of the property. In this case, the Town has specified a particular mixed-use development for the property which should be the basis for the valuation.
§ Based on the assessment, Valbridge concluded that the current market value of the Beaty Street Property is $4.6M.
§ It should be noted that the appraisal only considered the full market value for 11.8 acres as the balance of the property was considered undevelopable or unusable based on the Luminous site plan provided.
Save Davidson has held numerous fundraisers to support its public education and awareness efforts and to help pay for appraisal and legal fees. Save Davidson, which opposes the Beaty Street Property being sold to a private developer, started as a Facebook page (now with 1,700+ members) and has coalesced into a group of citizens who is working to shine light on what they view as a disregard of a contract, betrayal of public trust, flawed process, lack of transparency, failure to include and acknowledge citizen input on publicly owned land along with increased traffic, loss of tree canopy and open space, and adverse effects to water and air quality.
Find more information at www.savedavidson.org. Follow Save Davidson on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Receive updates via e-mail; write savedavidson@gmail.com to add your name to the list.
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