I recently spent some time on the Central Appraisal District website. It is a wonderful source of information on how much all property in El Paso is worth; worth dictates amount of taxes paid on said property. Here are some of the interesting things I found while on the site, btw I cross referenced with Texas Historical Atlas.

For a reference point I chose the Camino Real Hotel.
Camino Real Hotel – 101 South El Paso
The nicest hotel in El Paso, or at least they act as such. Crème de la crème.
Imp. Value $9,099,780 Land Value $2,626,260 Total App. Value $11,726,040
CAD Site: Link

Now, this is where it gets interesting, the Central Appraisal District net worth of the following El Paso Landmarks:

Mills Building – 303 North Oregon
Registered Historical Building in the State of Texas the twelve story Trost building in the heart of downtown, next to the $40 Million dollar renovated Plaza Theater, yet it is only worth 1 million dollars.
Imp. Value $705,811 Land Value $294,446 Total App. Value $1,000,257
CAD Site: Link

Historic Site: Link

Basset Building - 301 Texas Ave.
Historical Building in the State of Texas and another empty shell; why are these buildings empty?
Imp. Value $178,837 Land Value $696,163 Total App. Value $875,000
CAD Site: Link

Historic Site: Link

Plaza Hotel – Oregon and Mills Sts.
Not quite sure if this is correct, because it is listed as 106 Mills and this is the info for 100 Mills. You be the judge.
Imp. Value $169,565 Land Value $507,780 Total App. Value $677,345
CAD Site: Link

Historic Site: Link

Hotel Cortez – 300 North Mesa
Seven story building standing at the corner of Mesa Street and Texas Avenue. MESA AND TEXAS!!! Seriously, what the F— is going on here. Each story is worth less than $1,000. WTF? My mom’s house, a one story 1800 sf house in the Lower Valley is worth more than this building, that is, according to CAD. Why is CAD saying this place is worth only 6 g’s? Who is letting CAD do this while homeowners are getting gouged 10% more in the past year alone?
Imp. Value $6,223 Land Value $88,704 Total App. Value $94,927
CAD Site: Link

Historic Site: Link
Owner who needs to sell, die, or go to hell:
VALUTA CORPORATION
300 S MESA ST
EL PASO, TX 799012340

Caples Building – 300 East San Antonio
Another Trost building. At least they are getting taxed a bit. The building is worth something, but still $500,000 on a prime corner in downtown? That’s about as much as 5 new houses in the Tierra’s, maybe 2 in the nicer neighborhoods.
Imp. Value $513,765 Land Value $366,100 Total App. Value $879,865
CAD Site: Link

Historic Site: Link

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know much about anything. I do know that there seems to be something fishy going on here. Buildings in downtown are not worth much, CAD doesn’t tax them much. Will Sanders has pointed this out many times in his Downtown Plan. I just don’t quite understand why. CAD decides worth in El Paso. They don’t think much of downtown, but they think very highly of the new homes on the Eastside. I guess that’s it. Maybe someone knows someone at CAD and they can explain it.

What I do know is that historical renovations are not cheap and damn near all of downtown is historic. There are Historical Boards, ADA requirements, and code to be met. If one neglects anything long enough, at some point the damage is irrecoverable. I believe that is what has happened to our downtown. I wish Trost had skipped El Paso; it would be a lot easier if his buildings weren’t everywhere. Prominent Architect, I agree; one of the greats, not so sure.

I’m not sure how to fix this downtown problem, but having an 11 million dollar building (Camino) next to a 1 million dollar building (Mills) isn’t really cool. That’s equal to having a $100,000 house next to a $10,000 house. It just does not make sense.

I think City Council members should go down to CAD and actually serve their constituents in a productive manner. Investigate! Interrogate! Do something! Why have they let CAD take money from ever last citizen in El Paso, except for downtown? Council has spent so much energy on the downtown plan, why are they not questioning why CAD is appraising these properties at such a low amount. I mean really, what the hell is going on? If you sit on council and are reading this I would love the explanation to this question: Why is a seven story building in downtown El Paso worth less than 7,000?

Maybe I searched incorrectly? Maybe the CAD website is wrong? Maybe downtown isn’t worth anything and the appraisals are correct? Given what I have found in the past couple of days, I have come to two conclusions:

1) Downtown is worth something - Then treat it as such. Why isn’t anyone asking CAD for justification of the low appraisals? Why has the City let this go on for so long? Why hasn’t anyone done anything?

2) Downtown is worth nothing – Then let it go. Why is city council and O’Rourke specifically so engrossed in making Downtown better? Why has the city let every other growing part of the city grow in such an odd way? Why have things like 375 not connecting to I-10, the Montwood/Zaragoza intersection, and the general deterioration of all streets occurred?

I’m just tired of hearing and talking about downtown. I could care less either way. But Downtown needs to pull its share; the way it is now, homeowners are paying for everything and its just not cool. Anyways, I apologize for wasting valuable time with my never ending post. I now want to find out who is in charge of what and how it all works. I want to understand the gears of this machine. That’s all I got for now, but more to come on CAD Directors, CAD Board, and Historical Board.

-chesswithdeath