Eminent Domain Lawyers at Cranfill, Sumner & Hartzog Negotiate 5.75 Million Dollar Settlement for Public Storage
“According to Stephanie Autry, Eminent Domain Lawyer of Cranfill, Sumner, & Hartzog, Public Storage owned and operated a storage facility that contained approximately 650 rental units. In order to make room for the Blue Line Extension, the City of Charlotte condemned the property, forcing the tenants to vacate their storage units. In addition to losing the property, the condemnation also resulted in Public Storage losing significant rental income.
According to court documents the City of Charlotte initially appraised the property at less than $4.1 million. Public Storage retained Stephanie Autry and George Autry, two of the firm’s eminent domain lawyers, who hired Richard Marchitelli of Cushman & Wakefield to provide a second appraisal for the condemned property. Mr. Marchitelli appraised the condemned property at $6.3 million, an increase of more than $2 million over the City of Charlotte’s initial appraised value.
“At issue in the Public Storage case was a disagreement between appraisers as to the capitalization rate for the storage facility,” explained eminent domain lawyer Stephanie Autry. “Capitalization rate, or cap rate, establishes the rate of return an investor will receive based on the amount of income generated by the property in relation to the purchase price of the property. In simple terms, the lower the cap rate, the more valuable the investment.” According to Autry the City of Charlotte’s appraiser established a cap rate of 9.5 percent compared with Mr. Marchitelli, who established a cap rate of 6.25 percent.”
PR Web 31 May 2014.