Milwaukee has completed its 2020 revaluation, which shows the city's tax base, before adding manufacturing properties, rose by more than 9% from last year to $30.5 billion.
It was major developments such as the BMO Tower in downtown Milwaukee, Potawatomi Hotel & Casino's new hotel tower and the Park 7 Lofts apartment building just north of Fiserv Forum that showed the largest year-over-year gains in valuations for single properties.
And it was the usual suspects, such as the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. headquarters, the U.S. Bank Center and the 411 East Wisconsin Center, that topped the list of city properties with the highest assessed values for the year.
Here is a list of the ten properties that had the biggest gains in property values between 2019 and 2020, followed by the top ten in terms of overall valuations for the year.
The biggest gains were:
- 790 N. Water St., Irgens Partners' 25-story BMO Tower ($106.2 million assessed value, an $87.9 million increase)
- 1611 W. Canal St., where Potawatomi Hotel & Casino recently opened its new 119-room hotel tower ($97.2 million, a $16 million increase)
- 500 W. Juneau Ave., Royal Capital Group's 112-unit Park 7 Lofts apartment building ($16.8 million, a $14.4 million increase)
- 250 E. Kilbourn Ave., Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. headquarters ($41.4 million, an $11.9 million increase)
- 1009 W. Juneau Ave., the former Pabst Malt House and grain warehouse that's being converted into the Malt House apartments ($13.6 million, an $11.8 million increase)
- 2130 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., the former Hamburger Mary's site where New Land Enterprises built the Kinetik apartments ($11.3 million, a $9.2 million increase)
- 777 N. Van Buren St., the 35-story 7Seventy7 apartments ($74.9 million, an $8.9 million increase)
- 2151 S. Robinson Ave., the Stitchweld Apartments ($50.8 million, an $8.8 million increase)
- 515 N. Jefferson St., the site of an ongoing three-hotel development ($10.1 million, an $8.3 million increase)
- 10851 W. Metro Auto Mall, location of the Metro Auto Mall dealership cluster ($11 million, a $7.9 million increase)
The properties in Milwaukee with the highest values are:
- 800 E. Wisconsin Ave., Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons ($301.3 million)
- 777 E. Wisconsin Ave., U.S. Bank Center ($172.3 million)
- 411-433 E. Wisconsin Ave., the 411 East Wisconsin Center ($120.3 million)
- 790 N. Water St., the BMO Tower ($106.2 million)
- 1611 W. Canal St., Potawatomi Hotel & Casino ($97.2 million)
- 833 E. Michigan St., 833 East office building ($92.2 million)
- 777 N. Van Buren St., 7Seventy7 ($74.9 million)
- 100 E. Wisconsin Ave., 100 East Wisconsin office building ($73.7 million)
- 201-229 W. Cherry St., ManpowerGroup headquarters ($66.7 million)
- 2036 N. Prospect Ave., Park Lafayette Towers ($61 million)
The lists were compiled by the city assessor's office for BizTimes.
City officials noted in a press release that property values citywide have for the first time exceeded the combined valuations seen before 2008.
But when adjusting these numbers for inflation, the city still has some ground to make up before reaching its pre-recession peak.
Total property values in 2008 stood at roughly $29.4 billion. But when adjusting to 2020 dollars that value rises to $35.4 billion. That's according to data provided by John Johnson, research fellow at Marquette University's Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education.
In all, residential property values were up nearly 12% and commercial property values were up 5.3% year-over-year, according to the news release.
The city assessor determines property values primarily by carefully evaluating recent sales of similar properties. The latest assessments show a property's value as of Jan. 1. The new assessments do not incorporate any change in value that might have occurred over the past several months.
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