Lincoln County board keeps Wendling Realty office assessment at $2.47 million

The Lincoln County Board of Equalization voted 3-2 on a motion to accept the assessor’s recommendation and leave Wendling Realty LLC’s 2025 assessed value at $2,465,728 for the office building at 4900 South Minnesota Avenue.

The appeal centered on the property’s valuation approach. County assessor staff said the assessment used a cost approach and comparables that produced an overall assessment of $148 per square foot including land, and that the income approach submitted by the appellant produced a lower figure but contained errors and outliers the staff could not accept.

Appellant representative Kelly Castillo told the board that an income approach using a cap rate of 8% and the property’s net operating income would support a building value near $1.4 million and a total value the appellant calculated at $1,000,795.06. Castillo said many leases in the building are gross leases, which fixed rents and limited the owner’s ability to pass through rising expenses.

Assessor staff (Carla) said the county’s comparable sales and cost modeling placed the structure at $2,134,978 and the land at $330,750 for the total. The assessor’s presentation noted a 2021 purchase price of $1.7 million and flagged deferred maintenance that had since been corrected.

After brief discussion, Commissioner Arons moved to accept the assessor recommendation; a second was recorded and the roll call produced three yes votes (Aughton, Schmidt, Landeen) and two no votes (Arons, Putnam). The motion carried, leaving the assessed value unchanged.

The board’s decision was limited to the 2025 assessment and did not change the record of the 2021 sale or any previously reported deferred maintenance.

Votes at a glance: Motion to accept assessor recommendation → Passed 3–2 (Yes: Aughton, Schmidt, Landeen; No: Arons, Putnam).