Appraiser values former Wal-Mart at $4.2M
An appraiser retained by Wal-Mart to place a value on the shuttered store on Matthew Drive in South Union Township told the Fayette County Assessment Appeals Board Thursday that the site is worth $4.2 million, or 60 percent of the current assessed value. The current value of the property is about $7 million, according to the Fayette County assessment office.
That includes a figure of about $1.9 million for the land and about $5.1 million for the building.
Appraiser Tom Korpiel said the property is leased to Wal-Mart through 2013 although the building isn’t occupied.
He said Wal-Mart is paying $753,000 a year to lease the site, and Korpiel said the company would likely continue to pay the rent until the end of the lease term.
The store, which several years ago won the title of most productive Wal-Mart in the country, was located at 80 Matthew Drive in Cherry Tree Plaza. It opened in 1993.
Gustine Uniontown Associates Ltd. of Bentonville, Ark., owns the property.
The property, which consists of about 14 acres, included the former 116,000-square-foot Wal-Mart store, which closed in March 2008 when a new, 203,000-square-foot super center opened at 355 Wal-Mart Drive in the Fayette County Business Park in South Union Township.
Currently, the entire Cherry Tree Shopping Center is vacant. At one time, the shopping center included such businesses as the Wal-Mart, a Shop ‘N Save supermarket, a Chinese restaurant, a toy store, a Rite Aid pharmacy, Altmeyer’s, Dots, Cost Cutters and New York Pizza and Pasta.
There was an issue with pyrite in the ground that damaged the parking lot and building.
Korpiel said most of the reason why he believes the property should be worth less than it is now assessed includes the fact that rent totaling $2.3 million is owed to the site through 2013. He said because of the pyrite problems, a developer would have to raze the building, repair the ground and start from scratch.
“The ground needs remediation,” Korpiel said. “Right now, it’s not a desirable center. An investor won’t do anything until it gets remediated.”
Last year the value of the remaining shopping center site, which didn’t include the Wal-Mart, was reduced from $4.5 million to about $2.2 million.
Fayette County chief assessor Jim Hercik said at that time that the board determined the value would hold until such time as the plaza is torn down or the pyrite condition is repaired and stores reopen.
During last year’s appeal hearing, Robert Gustine said litigation against the 13 contractors and subcontractors began in 1999 and the lawsuit was only in the discovery process.
The pyrite has pushed up sections of the floor and done other damage to the building and made the pavement of the parking lot uneven.
It will be determined through litigation who is responsible for not properly removing the substance.
Earlier this month, the assessment appeals board, which includes Lloyd Moser, John Rogish and Dee John, also heard appeals on the Wal-Mart super center and the Uniontown Mall properties.
Decisions on all three values will be made at a later date.