Nick and the team at Furia Property Tax represented Abbott Laboratories in an appeal of the former St. Jude Medical corporate campus in Plymouth, Minnesota. After a two-day trial, the Minnesota Tax Court reduced the January 2, 2022 assessed value of the property from $38,850,000 to $31,830,000. At trial, Hennepin County argued that the property was worth $49,560,000, which would have resulted in a massive increase to the assessed value and tax bill.
Hennepin County did not want the Minnesota Tax Court to tour the property before trial, but the Tax Court decided to tour the building over Hennepin County’s objections. Hennepin County also attempted to dismiss the case several times during trial, but failed in each instance. Additionally, Hennepin County tried to change its highest and best use of the property in the middle of trial, first alleging that its highest and best use was a typo, then later acknowledging that the county wished it had chosen a different highest and best use when it wrote its trial appraisal. Ultimately, the Tax Court determined that Hennepin County’s expert witness was not credible, and arrived at the value Abbott’s expert opined to, and then further reduced that value based on equalization relief.
