Case ID: ad2d_18/html/0612-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

In the Matter of F. W. Woolworth Co., Respondent, v. Tax Commission of the City of New York, Appellant.
   Order, entered September 14, 1959, unanimously reversed on the law and the facts, with $20 costs and disbursements to the appellant, and the assessments of the property 1A-22 Cortland Street, Manhattan, for the years 1954-1955, and through 1958-1959, are reinstated. The assessments as to land during the tax years in question were $2,200,000 and for the year 1954^1955 the building was assessed at $250,000 and from 1955-1956 through 1958-1959 at $500,000. In our opinion the total assessments were less than the fair value of the premises. In 1951, the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U. S. purchased the property for $2,137,500 in an' all-cash transaction. Thereafter, and before 1954, $1,329,946 was spent upon alterations and the modernization of the building. That- these figures, which in total exceed the assessment for 1954-1955, do not represent an improvident purchase and indicate a fair value is shown by the subsequent history of the property. In 1954, petitioner exercised an option, it received in 1951, to purchase and acquire the property for $2,993,000. This figure exceeds the subsequent assessment by over $200,000. The record shows no basis for a finding of any diminution in value during the ensuing years, and, in fact, the general inflation of real estate values points to the contrary. The arms-length sale between corporations knowledgeable in the field establishes prima facie values and the record is barren of cogent proof that should disturb them. Settle order on notice. Concur — Rabin, J. P., Valente, Stevens, Eager and Bergan, JJ.