QuikTrip appeals valuations on land and convenience stores; board sides with assessor on multiple properties

The Union County Board of Equalization and Review heard multiple appeals from QuikTrip and its representatives over the assessed values of a vacant land parcel and several convenience-store properties and voted to sustain the county assessor’s valuations.

QuikTrip argued one undeveloped parcel purchased in 2023 should be valued at its sale price of $175,000 because the parcel is effectively constrained by access and assemblage issues, while the county placed a higher per-acre value based on nearby sales and recent development.

Ryan Condiff of Invoke Tax Partners, representing QuikTrip, told the board that QuikTrip bought the subject parcel in 2023 and asked the board to set the taxable value at the 2023 sale price. “They bought it in 2023. They bought it for our requested value of $175,000,” Condiff said. He emphasized the parcel’s constrained frontage and the need for an easement to secure direct access from Concord Highway if sold separately.

County staff disputed treating the single lot as equivalent to the assembled parcels QuikTrip also owns. The county noted QuikTrip purchased two adjoining parcels in 2023 for $450,000 and $510,000, and that nearby development — including a 215-townhome and 307-apartment project called The Ridge At 601— materially changes market context. The county told the board it had the subject parcel appraised at roughly $270,000 per acre. “We’re at 270,000 an acre. It’s what we currently have it appraised for,” the county said.

In separate appeals of convenience-store properties, the dispute focused on building classification and the cost approach. QuikTrip’s appraiser applied a Marshall & Swift cost approach with a “good” quality classification and used a 2% per year depreciation factor to calculate replacement cost less depreciation; QuikTrip also argued that gas station sales reflect business operations (receipts) rather than real-estate value. The county maintained certain stores should be classed as “excellent” based on design, canopy and heavy-duty concrete paving, and applied its higher cost multipliers accordingly. The county described Marshall & Swift as “the gold standard for valuation” for commercial properties.

The board voted to accept the county values on the land parcel (hearing number 7 — county value $32,500) and on the convenience-store parcels (hearing numbers 8 and 9 — county values $3,391,400 and $2,067,150, respectively). Board members twice noted the key difference was the quality rating assigned to the buildings and the heavy canopy/concrete work that the county said makes the sites higher-cost to replace.

The county and the taxpayer both acknowledged differences in methodology: QuikTrip’s representatives favored cost estimates tied to local construction costs and IRS depreciation guidance in places, while the county relied on Marshall & Swift cost tables, local multipliers and built-in classification grades. The board sustained the assessor’s determinations after formal motions to retain the county values were carried.

The board’s decisions preserve the assessor’s applied land-rate matrix and cost-based assessments for convenience stores in the areas appealed. Property owners will receive formal notice from the clerk’s office of the board’s rulings.