Economic health:
Property tax revenue
Riverfront property tax revenue as a percent of citywide property tax revenue, 2004-2014
Property tax revenue is an important indicator of the economic vitality of an area. In 2014, the trends of past years continued, as the chart below illustrates. We continue to see revenue from riverfront increase faster than in the rest of the city. The Central Riverfront has driven overall growth in tax revenue along the riverfront - in 2004 it accounted for nine percent of citywide total property tax revenue; today it accounts for nearly 11 percent.
By comparison, the Upper River accounts for a decreasing portion of citywide property tax revenue. This can be attributed to a mix of factors, including depressed property values, sluggish private investment in some areas, as well as the transition of tax-paying land to parkland. In the long term, we can expect investment in parkland will begin to pay dividends as it attracts nearby private development.
Data source and methodology: Data analysis based on Hennepin County Parcel Dataset from the end of the calendar years 2004 to 2014. For years prior to 2010, data acquired from MetroGIS DataFinder land ownership data, which originated with the same Hennepin County dataset. Parcels were tagged as being in the Upper River, Central Riverfront, Lower Gorge and/or City of Minneapolis, as appropriate. The boundaries of the Upper River, Central Riverfront and Lower Gorge were delineated by the Minneapolis Riverfront Partnership at a distance of roughly one-half mile from the river, following Census blocks. To provide the comparison in the chart shown above, we summed the taxes paid by each property in the Upper River, in the Central Riverfront, in the Lower Gorge, and in the full City of Minneapolis for each year of analysis. The results were plotted in the chart above.
Portion of Citywide property tax:
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1% |
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| over last year | ||
8% |
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| over ten years | ||
from
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1% |
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| over last year | ||
20% |
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| over ten years |
Map of property tax revenue
per square foot of land
Data source and methodology: Data analysis based on Hennepin County Parcel Dataset (end of year 2014), as downloaded at beginning of 2015. Property tax revenue generators identified by first totaling data in stacked parcels (usually condominiums) by calculating the coordinates of the parcel centerpoint and totaling tax data for parcels that shared parcel centerpoints. Additional contextual work undertaken as necessary to rank top ten projects: specifically, tax generation totals from high-cost developments that extend across multiple parcels were summed together to determine appropriate place in ranking. For the purpose of this analysis, a single development is generally a single building or sometimes set of buildings generally developed at the same time, by the same developer or developers, and marketed as a single cohesive project (when marketed).
| $0.01 up to $0.50 per sq ft | |
| $0.50 up to $1.00 per sq ft | |
| $1.00 up to $1.50 per sq ft | |
| $1.50 up to $2.00 per sq ft | |
| $2.00 up to $2.50 per sq ft | |
| $2.50 up to $5.00 per sq ft | |
| $5.00 up to $10.00 per sq ft | |
| $10.00 up to $50.00 per sq ft | |
| over $50.00 per sq ft | |
| non-taxed |
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Top property tax revenue generators in the river corridor
| rank | property name | type | area | annual tax revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | the Federal Reserve Bank | government offices | Central Riverfront | $3.4 million |
| 2 | Xcel Energy Riverside Plant | utility generation plant | Upper River | $3.3 million |
| 3 | the Carlyle | residential condominiums | Central Riverfront | $2.5 million |
| 4 | the Bridgewater | residential condominiums | Central Riverfront | $1.9 million |
| 5 | Marquette Plaza | leased offices | Central Riverfront | $1.9 million |
| 6 | the Depot Minneapolis | hotel & accomodations | Central Riverfront | $1.4 million |
| 7 | 100 Washington Square | leased offices | Central Riverfront | $1.4 million |
| 8 | River West condos | residential condominiums | Central Riverfront | $1.4 million |
| 9 | Phoenix on the River condos | residential condos | Central Riverfront | $1.3 million |
| 10 | Becketwood Cooperative | residential senior cooperative | Lower Gorge | $1.1 million |
The list of top overall tax generators represents a healthy mix of property types along the river corridor. Once again, the current Federal Reserve Bank complex at the downtown edge of the Hennepin Avenue Bridge topped out the list. That may be surprising because government institutions generally do not pay property taxes – but the Federal Reserve is a rare exception.
Data source and methodology: Data analysis based on Hennepin County Parcel Dataset (end of year 2014), as downloaded at beginning of 2015. Property tax revenue generators identified by first totaling data in stacked parcels (usually condominiums) by calculating the coordinates of the parcel centerpoint and totaling tax data for parcels that shared parcel centerpoints. Additional contextual work undertaken as necessary to rank top ten projects: specifically, tax generation totals from high-cost developments that extend across multiple parcels were summed together to determine appropriate place in ranking. For the purpose of this analysis, a single development is generally a single building or sometimes set of buildings generally developed at the same time, by the same developer or developers, and marketed as a single cohesive project (when marketed).
Federal Reserve Photo: credit Michael Hicks under CC BY 2.0 license.
Though owned by an arm of the United States Government, the Federal Reserve Bank building pays more in property taxes than any other property in the river corridor study area.
more from the RIVERFRONT vitality project