Foreclosed mall seeking $128M tax reduction
TARENTUM (AP) — A Western Pennsylvania mall that was foreclosed on after its owners failed to repay $143 million is now seeking to cut its property tax value from $138.3 million to $10.1 million.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports the owner of the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills, Morgan Stanley Capital, last week appealed the county’s refusal to lower the assessment to Common Pleas Court.
Wells Fargo Bank was owed $143 million from a 2006 loan and submitted the winning $100 bid for the 1.1 million-square-foot mall at a foreclosure auction in January. The bank was acting as trustee for MSCI 2007 HQ11, the Morgan Stanley trust that bought the mall in suburban Frazer Township.
The mall opened in 2005 and once was assessed at $190 million. It was assessed at $11 million when it was half full shortly before the auction.