Wayne forced to reimburse Valley National Bank in tax court settlement
By: Philip DeVencentis
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
WAYNE - the township has paid more than half a million dollars in tax refunds to Valley National Bank following a decade-long dispute over the assessed value of a portion of its former office complex.
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The bank, now headquarter in Morristown, was reimbursed a total of $572,629 after 10 straight years of trying to reduce the value of one of its lots at the T-intersection of Barbour Pond and Valley roads, tax records show.
..... The litigation was finally resolved in state court, but not before the 17-aqcre property was sold to AvalonBay Communities Incorporated for redevelopment. That $17.1 million transaction wrapped up in September 2023 as hundreds of bank employees relocated to their new workplace. Construction is well underway at the site.
..... The Virgina-based developer is building 473 housing units there, including 71 affordable units.
..... The lot that twas under scrutiny in court - 1445 Valley road - is the smaller of the two redevelopment parcels. Its 5 acres will feature 55 townhouses in 11 buildings.
..... It assessed value is $4.4 million, but court records show that the bank negotiated lower figures for all of the years it appealed, except for the last two. The value was knocked down substantially for the pandemic years of2022 and 2021.
..... The developer was charged $261,624 in taxes for owning the lot this year. [2024]
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The bank has $60.9 billion in assets and more than 200 branches in six states: Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey and New York.
..... Founded almost a century ago, as Passaic Park Trust Company, the bank completed at least three major acquisitions in the past five years. They included a $1.3 billion purchase in April 2022 of the U.S. subsidiary of Bank Leumi, one of the largest financial institutions in Israel.