Tulare County appeals board tables Amazon Visalia assessment; requests more data

The Tulare County Assessment Appeals Board on July 21 tabled an appeal by Amazon Services LLC of a 2023 supplemental assessment for a Visalia industrial property and asked staff to supply further analysis before the board reconvenes on Aug. 21.

The board took the action after hearing a three-part presentation: Amazon’s representative presented a multi‑approach appraisal that placed the property’s market value at about $134 million; county appraisal staff, represented by Assessment Services Director Steve Wise, recommended sustaining the assessor’s supplemental building valuation near $175 million; and the board held a closed-session review before requesting additional supporting materials.

Amazon’s representative, who identified themself as Norikim, told the board the subject site at 8817 West Weibra Avenue in Visalia is a single‑tenant distribution building of roughly 1.1 million square feet and was “built in October 2022.” Norikim said the county’s base assessment for the building portion was about $175 million and the combined assessed value about $182.9 million, and presented cost, income and sales‑comparison approaches that, in his opinion, supported a market value near $134,000,000. “When people are here to buy at the time of…