GENESEO – The owners of the multi-million-dollar Genesee Valley Shopping Center, which includes Wegmans, are taking the Town of Geneseo to court in an attempt to get the current appraised value of the plaza cut down to less than half.
Geneseo Town Supervisor William Wadsworth said that the attempt by the registered taxpayer for the plaza, Gailileo Apollo IV Sub LLC, to lower the value from $13,480,400 to $6,199,000 is a ridiculous challenge to the Town’s assessment, and could deeply impact Livingston County’s annual tax revenue.
“This is another case in which we’re being challenged in an appropriate way, since the courts provide the right for them to make ridiculous claims like this,” said Wadsworth. “We need to go forward with this to prove our salt and our willingness to stand by our appraisal. I will be contacting both the County and the school to see if they too are up for the fight.”
Tammy Baker, Assessor for the Town of Geneseo, says that Gailileo Apollo has been trying to take the Town of Geneseo to court for years.
“They file this type of grievance and law suit every year, but judges decide if it will go forward,” said Baker. “This year is a go forward year for another one of these frivolous lawsuits.”
The Genesee Valley Shopping Center includes all businesses from Wegmans and its neighboring stores to Applebees and Tractor Supply Co. to the north.
The Shopping Center also made headlines in January 2015 when rent hikes by Brixmor, the real estate company in charge of the plaza, was blamed for the chronic departure of plaza businesses like Hallmark, AT&T, and Staples.