Tabloid Community Paper and Writer Crosses the Line

UPDATE: December 18, 2006 6:45 am This mornings E.W. Scripps tabloid has the following correction.

Five Points real estate

Last week Betty Bean wrote about a privately owned building at Five Points that Knox County is renting for $3,800 a month for a health department clinic. The building is on the tax rolls valued at $66,800, but Knox County government relations director Dwight Van de Vate distributed a memo dated Dec. 8 saying the building has been completely renovated and “PBA estimates the market value of Building B is approximately $400,000.” He also said the county’s rent of $9 per square foot is “at or below market rates for this area.

”We called Property Assessor John Whitehead. Sure enough, he concurred.

Whitehead said the building has been revalued and will show up on next year’s tax rolls at “$400,000 to $430,000.” He said the remodeling was done after September 2006, too late for inclusion on the 2006 tax rolls.

Whitehead said a building permit for $366,000 was pulled for the project.

But what about the income approach as the best indicator of value for commercial property?

Whitehead said a comparable sale would be the very best indicator of value, but without one he would look at the income approach over replacement cost.

So he pulled out his calculator and multiplied the rent of $3,800 per month times 12 – $45,600 gross income – less estimated expenses of 40 percent ($18,240). He then multiplied the net of $27,360 times a “cap rate” of 9 percent for an estimated value of $246,240. Actually, Whitehead got $278,000, but I can’t get that result with these numbers.

We await the publication of the 2007 appraisals to see where the value of this property at 2202 Martin Luther King Avenue lands.

The old saying a picture is worth a thousand words. Brian’s Blog not only posted about the lies the E.W. Scripps tabloid writer printed but published photographs with the original post to demonstrate the E.W. Scripps tabloid writers inaccurate story.

E.W. Scripps must now address the tabloid writer’s racist remarks about “Drive-by” and “It IS on mlk, btw”

Brian’s Blog is always happy to correct the E.W. Scripps tabloid and am happy to see that management corrects them when they cross the line. I am sure it was painful for the E.W. Scripps tabloid editoir to do so. End Update.

Original Post: December 12, 2006 5:18 pm I read with interest the online tabloid story about the new Knox County Health Department Clinic in East Knoxville.

A little background is necessary. The Health Department and the Burlington branch library of the Knox County Public library system use to share half of a former “big box” store on Asheville Highway next door to Kroger’s. The Public library constructed a replacement “new” branch in the former Walgreen’s just a couple of blocks down the street. This left the Health Department in a building without half of its occupant. The health department sought out space and discovered this property recently renovated. I might add a good find on Knox County’s part.

Next month (January 2006) it is expected that the former home of the Burlington branch library and health department will be sold and will be returned to the tax rolls.

I visited the “new” health department site today based on the tabloid account I expected to see a run down building. The tabloid writer and tabloid publication (E.W. Scripps owned) would have you to believe it is a run down $66,800.00 structure. This building is clearly worth the $400,000.00 that the county says it is. Especially based on the Five Points development being worth what the City has invested in it.

This building that could be situated in West Knoxville and would blend in well. It is not situated in West Knoxville. It is situated in the Burlington/East Knoxville area to serve the citizens that have medical needs within the East Knoxville/Burlington community.

It is as important for the citizens of East Knoxville to have access to the Health Department as it is for any other citizen in any other community in Knox County. The tabloid paper and writer stated in the article that it is too close to downtown. If that is the reason to deny the citizens of East Knoxville a Health Department, then the County Commission should close the Halls branch library immediately as it is 4 miles from the Fountain City branch library.