The owners of Eastland Mall in Bloomington have appealed their property’s assessed value to a state board in hopes of lowering their taxes.
The move was expected. An attorney for Eastland Mall’s owners, CBL Properties, said they’d take their case to the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board if the McLean County Board of Review didn’t grant its full request for a lower assessed value. That has now happened.
Thousands of dollars in property tax dollars are at stake. Eastland Mall, located along Veterans Parkway, is one of the most valuable properties in McLean County, but it’s struggling with a high number of vacancies and changing consumer behavior. District 87 schools is the biggest beneficiary of the property taxes it pays.
Most recently, Eastland Mall was initially assessed at a market value of around $40 million. The county’s Board of Review agreed to lower that to $32 million. But Eastland Mall’s owners wanted it dropped all the way to $21.5 million, which District 87 and other taxing bodies opposed. CBL paid $1.1 million in property taxes for the 2018 tax year; lower assessed value means lower taxes.
In a Feb. 10 filing, mall attorney James Regan of Chicago requested a hearing in front of the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board (PTAB) to argue a “contention of law” case.
It’s unclear when the case will be heard. PTAB cases often take a long time—sometimes years—to be resolved.
About two dozen McLean County cases are pending in front of PTAB from the 2019 tax year, including Eastland Mall’s appeal.
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