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Target contests Hernando County appraisals, offers lower income-based valuations
Summary
Two Target store assessments were contested Jan. 22 before the Hernando County special magistrate. The property appraiser relied on cost approaches and produced multi‑million dollar values; Target's representative presented income approaches that yielded substantially lower requested valuations (one petition requested $4,070,600). Magistrate said he would review all approaches before deciding.
At separate hearings Jan. 22, the Hernando County special magistrate heard challenges by Target Corporation to the county’s assessed values for two big-box stores.
At petition 225 (Commercial Way), Daniel Scott, representing the property appraiser, said the office used Marshall & Swift cost data (discount-store classification) and arrived at a depreciated improvement value and site improvements yielding a final cost-of-sale–adjusted figure of about $7,120,772. Scott told the board the office had not found enough local anchor-store sales to rely on a sales approach and therefore leaned on the cost method.
Target’s representative, Sydney Samini, presented an income approach as the primary argument. Samini said the petitioner used a $4.20 per square-foot rent with 5% vacancy, 6% expenses, 28¢ per-square-foot reserves and a 7.5% capitalization rate, producing a requested value of $4,070,600. Samini provided regional rent and cap-rate materials and a set of sales checks as additional support.
Scott pushed back on the rental evidence and sales checks, telling the magistrate he was "not thrilled" with the rents and that some of the petitioner’s rent support came from internal national lease summaries rather than negotiated local market leases. The magistrate said he was not yet persuaded and would review the record in detail before issuing his recommended decision.
Why it matters: These are high-dollar assessments that affect both the county tax base and the property's owner; differences in methodology — cost vs. income vs. sales — produced materially different valuations.
What’s next: The magistrate will review both parties’ evidence and issue a recommended decision in writing; either party may pursue further judicial review in circuit court after the administrative process concludes.
