New York buildings claim the country’s highest property taxes
Photo by Dan DeLuca/Flickr
In a city as pricy as New York, it’s no surprise the buildings here pay some of the heftiest property taxes in the country. And that’s overwhelmingly what Commercial Cafe has found in their Top 100 US Property Taxes in 2017 ranking, released this week to mark the end of tax season. New York, the report states, has an “overwhelming presence in the mix,” as 78 of the top 100 U.S. taxes belong to properties located across the state. In 2017, those buildings generated $2.2 billion in property tax revenue, accounting for 82 percent of the total contributed by all 100. (Buildings are mostly offices, alongside some mixed-use, retail, hotel, entertainment and residential properties.) While the top spot was claimed by an industrial property in Fort Salonga, New York — which pays a whopping $82 million of property taxes a year — the next 19 buildings are located here the city and include Stuyvesant Town, pictured above, and the Metlife Building.
There’s an 81 percent difference between the first and the 100th tax values, though they’re both in New York. The top tax-generating property, for the second year running, is the Northport Power Station in Fort Salonga. The power generating station, with distinctive 600-foot-tall smoke stacks, is the largest on the East Coast. As for number 100, it’s the CBS Building, the 1960s office building at 51 West 52nd Street. Currently assessed at a market value of around $360 million, “Black Rock” was designed by architect Eero Saarinen to embody the modernist vision of CBS founder William S. Paley. These days, the property forks over $15.9 million a year in property taxes.
The Metlife Building
The top 10 properties, following the Northport Power Station, are the General Motors Building, the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village residential complex, the Metlife Building, 1345 Avenue of the Americas, the International Building (at 50 Rockefeller Plaza and 1270 Avenue of the Americas), 1221 Avenue of the Americas, 245 Park Avenue, 601 Lexington Avenue, and 399 Park Avenue.
VIA 57 WEST
All those NYC buildings are offices, which the exception of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, which generated an impressive $66.5 million in property taxes last year. In 2016 the complex was the only residential property in the mix. 2017’s list also included VIA 57 WEST, following a 68 percent year-over-year increase in property taxes. Bjarke Ingels‘ tetrahedron-shaped rental building ranked at No. 97, with a nearly $16 million tax bill in 2017.
The Western Union building via Wikipedia
Five of the eight new entries to the list are Manhattan properties, and their combined property tax values roughly equal $82 million. The Downtown Manhattan commercial property once known as the Western Union Building is one notable new addition — a $16.6 million tax bill in 2017 gives it the number 91 spot. The 23-story 1930s art deco building is located at 60 Hudson Street and is considered one of the most important internet hubs in the world. It’s now home to a 15,000-square-foot, secure environment “Meet-Me-Room,” where more than 100 local and global telecommunications companies interconnect, making this the only data and colocation center to take a spot on the list.
Ultimately, the top five taxpaying properties on the list remained unchallenged and unmoved from the previous year. But the rest of the deck was somewhat shuffled by changes in tax values, along with the presence of eight new entries, that Commercial Cafe breaks down here.
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