Downtown Cedar Rapids property values dip

Overall residential and industrial valuations in the city have climbed while commercial valuations remain steady citywide and have dropped in the city's flood-hit downtown core, City Assessor Scott Labus reports.

Letters from Labus' office to the owners of 46,619 parcels of property will hit the mail Thursday afternoon.

The new property valuations from Labus' office show the overall value of residential property in the city increased 5.7 percent since Jan. 1, 2007, what outgoing City Manager Jim Prosser on Tuesday said was indicative of a community headed in the right direction after a national economic downtown and a 2008 flood.

At the same time, Labus noted that he has cut property valuations 10 percent across the board in the core of the flood-hit downtown, both on the east and west sides of the Cedar River. This follows an adjustment downward a year ago as well, he noted.

Labus said such a cut in valuations was justified because of the lagging recovery from the flood in the downtown.

In some instances, he said some downtown businesses “just aren't surviving right now.” He said the ground floors of some buildings remain empty, and some buildings have significant space that is empty on floors above the ground level.

Prosser and Labus' top assistant, Beth Weeks, said the news isn't all grim downtown. Both noted that the overall property value in the core of the downtown will drop only 4 percent with the 10 percent valuation cut because of renovations that have taken place.

“There has been some rebuilding,” Prosser said.

Another mixed bag is the change in overall valuations in commercial and industrial property throughout the city.

The overall valuation of industrial property in the city jumped 7.4 percent, thanks in large part to the Archer Daniels Midland Co. ethanol plant readying to come on line and expansions at a few other plants, Labus said.

At the same time, the overall value of commercial property in the city remained nearly unchanged, up just 0.1 percent.

In the larger picture, Labus noted that the overall loss in property value in the core of the downtown is about $4 million to $5 million in a city in which the overall value of property is increasing from $8.8 billion to $9.2 billion in the new valuations.

As for residential property, he said that 4.3 percent of the 5.7 increase in overall residential valuations comes from the appreciation in property values and 1.4 percent of the increase comes from new construction.