Fairfield Merrittview Ltd. P'ship v. City of Norwalk, 159 A.3d 684

Property: an eight‑story Class A multitenant office building at 383 Main Ave, Norwalk, with parking garage and tenant amenities; subject of a citywide revaluation effective October 1, 2008.
Assessor valued the property at $49,036,800; plaintiff appealed under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12‑117a seeking reduction for overvaluation.
Both parties’ appraisers used the income‑capitalization approach and agreed on highest and best use, direct capitalization, a 10% vacancy/collection loss, and $25/sq ft market rent, but disagreed on net rentable area, potential gross income (PGI), and capitalization rate.
Trial court: adopted a net rentable area of 243,586 sq ft (relying on plaintiff’s 2006 annual income & expense report), set PGI at $26/sq ft (rejecting certain reimbursements and $190,000 “other income”), used an overall cap rate of 8.89%, and calculated fair market value of $34,059,753, reducing the assessment.
City appealed, arguing (1) the court erred in using the 2006 report rather than the December 2008 rent roll for net rentable area, and (2) the court erred in excluding $190,000 of other income (interest, conference room, tenant other income) from PGI.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Proper net rentable area to use in income capitalization	2006 annual income & expense report (243,586 sq ft) accurately reflected rentable area for valuation	Court should use plaintiff’s Dec. 2008 rent roll (larger area) because it more accurately reflects Oct. 1, 2008 size	Court’s factual finding of 243,586 sq ft was not clearly erroneous; reliance on 2006 report was reasonable
Whether $190,000 “other income” must be included in PGI	Excluding the $190,000 (interest, conference room, tenant other) understates PGI; these items reflect income of the property	Interest and some other receipts are not income attributable to the real estate; insufficient evidence regular conference room/tenant other income is market‑attributable	Trial court permissibly excluded the $190,000; interest treated as business/owner income and conference room/tenant other lacked proof of regular market attribution
Standard of review for factual findings in tax appeals	N/A	N/A	Findings of fact will be upheld unless clearly erroneous; trial court has broad discretion to weigh credibility and evidence in de novo tax valuation trials
Whether exclusion of small income items requires reversal	N/A	N/A	Exclusion did not produce reversible error; inclusion would have changed value by less than one half percent and court’s compromise PGI ($26/sq ft) was supported

Pilot’s Point Marina, Inc. v. Westbrook, 119 Conn. App. 600 (trial court erred by excluding income streams that parties agreed were attributable to the property)
United Technologies Corp. v. East Windsor, 262 Conn. 11 (income capitalization method and standard for fair market value)
O’Brien v. Board of Tax Review, 169 Conn. 129 (trier of fact weighs appraisers and evidence in tax valuation)
Whitney Center, Inc. v. Hamden, 4 Conn. App. 426 (distinguishing income attributable to realty from income attributable to business)
Redding Life Care, LLC v. Redding, 308 Conn. 87 (trial court may consider but is not required to treat owner/escrow accounts or nonrealty receipts as property income)