Secrets of the City

regardless of the taxes though the tone of the second half the article is one of resilience.
i have been a fan of lake street for a while and admit to staying away during the construction (the lack of painted lines dividing the lanes freaks me out among other things) but i’m totally looking forward to getting back there once the weather is warmer…

I bought a place in this area for a few reasons: the park, the central location, and affordability. I guess 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

I’m making a bundle on Lake Street properties. It’s been great to buy these rundown places and now sell them to developers who are snapping up for condos. I’ve renovated a few myself and rent them out at 2 to 3 times what they were going for before I bought them. This area is on the rise and I see no end in sight right now. Everyone wants to be in the area and has $$$$!

Did anyone else get a pinch of resentment reading Lucky’s comment?

Not I.

My hustand and I bought on the east side of the tracks earlier this year and love it. We love the central location, the diversity, and the busineeses nearby…essentially we like to ditch our cars as much as possible and here we can go on foot most of the time. Or bike weather permitting. We had no idea of the impact zone of the light rail development, which leads me to believe that it will be infiltrated with Chi Chi’s and the like. Hopefully I’m wrong.

As for the businesses being hit with a huge tax bill, I think that the county should defer those taxes until businesses are getting over the huge negative impact of the lake street reconstruction. Only seems fair unless they’re trying to push them out of business. My conspiracy theory is that the city wants to populate the Midtown Exchange “global marketplace” and then redevelop the stores along Lake Street.

i don’t think that was resentment i was feeling

Lust?

Hustand. Busineeses. Sheesh. So much for my grammar. Just for fun I’ll start using apostrophe’s as much as possible.

If they are upset with their taxes then maybe they should join together and start holding some feet to the fire.

I bought one of the new condos overlooking the Midtown Greenway. I don’t forsee it doubling or tripling in value, but I think it will work out for a nice profit, considering it only cost me about $194 per square foot. Sell that in a few years and maybe I’ll be able to move back to a neighborhood I actually like, such as Uptown.

in a few years houses will have increased just as much if not more in Uptown, so no, you won’t be able to afford it then either. but the area you just bought in will be basically the same as Uptown, so you’ll be okay

Nope, not a conspiracy.

The property values along Lake Street were very depressed. A lot of people did a lot of work to clean it up and make it better. Property values increased. Property taxes are tied to values, so they have to go up too.

The ones to feel sorry for, by the way, are not the property owners, who can sell their property for a tidy profit if the property taxes go up too much, but the renters, who have worked hard to build up a business in a particular location, made the property more valuable because of it, but still have no equity stake in that property. When their rents triple, they’re the ones that are in a real bind.

That said, property taxes are going up all over the city, and it’s probably not good policy to defer some people’s taxes and not others.

If I remember correctly, the Truth in Taxation report indicated the property taxes for my house (8 or 9 blocks south of one of the properties mentioned in the article) were going to go up something like 50 or 60% this year. Luckily, I am one of those “Happy to Pay for a Better Minnesota” people. I’d pay more if they could do a better job of catching the asshats who throw up graffiti all over 38th Street.

you can always send more money to the government. please do so my taxes won’t go up

Go wait by the mailbox. I’ll stop by in a bit.

Mike, what Truth in Taxation report are you talking about?

Molly, toward mid-fall every property owner gets a truth in taxation report estimating your property taxes for the next year and explaining why they went up so damn much. Working for a school district, I get to hear a lot of complaints when those things go out…

Spaceman, you’re right, everything gets more expensive. But in a few years I’ll have more money, too.

Truth-in-taxation reports = waste of time. No school or city is going to let some silly citizen stand in the way of spending more money. Get real!

Here’s the address for the Dept. of Revenue for those of you who want to keep less of your money: Minnesota Revenue, Mail Station 0010, St. Paul, MN 55145-0010.

Good point MunsingW. Do property owners pass on the actual tax bill here to commercial renters? From my past experience in another metro area property owners can pass on a portion of the actual taxes. Does that happen here? Just curious. I was involved with a not-for-profit arts organization a looong time ago and their lease pretty much screwed them if the neighborhood ever became halfway decent, between the increase in the rent and the taxes.

monster.com – that’s the address for those of you that want to make extra money.

Hmmm…I’m just surprised to hear that Mike’s property taxes would go up by 50 percent this year.