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square feet) on December 15, 1992,9 to be $380,000 based on a
value of $0.75 per square foot. Mr. Cantrell compared the 11.656
acres to eight other land comparables that ranged in size from
25,264 square feet to 1,408,948 square feet, that were sold or
were being offered for sale between January of 1986 and December
of 1992, and that had sale prices or offers between $0.12 and
$1.10 per square foot. After adjusting his comparables, he
determined that the comparable properties had a mean price per
square foot of $0.57.
Mr. Cantrell did not adjust the comparables for changes in
market conditions (time). Mr. Cantrell's report states that
there was a relatively slow market for land in the neighborhood
in which the Litton property was located. According to Mr.
Cantrell, this supported his decision not to adjust the
comparables for changes in market conditions. Mr. Cantrell
adjusted the comparables for location, size, and "other".10
Almost all of Mr. Cantrell's adjustments were positive, although
he did make negative adjustments to three comparables for size
and to one for "other".
We believe Mr. Cantrell's conclusions to be unrealistic and
unreliable. In his analysis, virtually every property was
inferior except the highest price sale ($1.10 per square foot)--a
property that was considerably smaller in size and located in a
9 Petitioners donated the gifted Litton property on Dec.
17, 1992, not on Dec. 15, 1992.
10 It is unclear what "other" adjustment was for.
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