The Wyoming Valley Mall’s real estate tax assessment has plunged from $68.7 million to $13.6 million through negotiations with taxing bodies in a court-level appeal, records show.

Attorneys involved in the case say the new assessment reflects a nationwide value drop in many traditional shopping malls.

The dramatic reduction knocked the Wilkes-Barre Township mall from its ranking among the top five highest commercial real estate taxpayers countywide.

It also will sting impacted taxing bodies.

Mall owner Wyoming Valley Realty Holding LLC will pay a total $375,201 in real estate taxes under current rates, which is a reduction of $1.5 million, analysis shows.

A breakdown of the old and new yearly payments to taxing bodies based on present tax rates:

• Wilkes-Barre Area School District — $1.26 million to $251,156 ($1.01 million less)

• Luzerne County — $436,432 to $86,576 ($349,856 less)

• Wilkes-Barre Township — $188,884 to $37,469 ($151,415 less)

Properties advance to court-level mediation when the owners contest county assessment appeal board rulings. At mediation, property owners negotiate with attorneys representing taxing bodies, with the option to proceed to a County Court of Common Pleas trial if they are unsuccessful.

In this case, an agreement, known as a stipulation, was reached in April to avoid trial, according to the court docket.

Wyoming Valley Realty purchased the property for $17 million in August 2021 and filed the court challenge that year.

Fair deal

Representing the mall owner, Attorney Francis Hoegen, of Hoegen & Associates in Wilkes-Barre, said his client had an appraisal concluding the property value was less than $13.6 million. During settlement negotiations, the mall owner also learned anchor tenant Macy’s intends to close its store, Hoegen said.

“So in theory, our value could be even less because the original appraisal relied on income from the Macy’s rent,” Hoegen said. “We could be paying less based upon appraisals and changed circumstances with the loss of Macy’s, but my client felt the deal was fair and as a result resolved the matter.”

Macy’s corporate communications released this statement:

“Our new strategy is designed to create a more modern Macy’s, Inc. and enhance the customer experience. We intend to close approximately 150 Macy’s stores while further investing in our 350 go-forward fleet over the next three years. A final decision on specific locations has yet to be made.”

“There is a current evaluation underway comparing the potential real estate value and the future sales growth profitability potential,” it said. “We look forward to continuing to serve our customers at this time.”

Hoegen said he has handled numerous appeals for Pennsylvania mall owners and has observed a sharp decline in the value of regional malls in less densely populated areas.

“People have pivoted to online shopping, and the biggest victims are retailers located in the shopping centers,” he said.

Due to the settlement, taxing bodies must refund overpayments for 2022 and 2023. Refunds date back to the filing of the assessment challenge.

As a compromise, the settlement gradually decreased the assessment to $32.6 million in 2022 and $14.9 million in 2023 before fixing it at $13.6 million for 2024 and forward, the stipulation said.

“I think in the end each party got a result that was acceptable to them, and, therefore, we entered into a settlement agreement,” Hoegen said.

Difficult negotiations

Attorney John Rodgers, who represents the township, said many malls have been struggling across the country.

“The values have declined substantially with many indoor malls, and the Wyoming Valley Mall is no different,” he said, noting its loss of anchor tenants, such as Sears and the Bon-Ton.

Reaching an agreement on such a major reduction was “not an easy process,” and each taxing body independently scrutinized the appraisals, Rodgers said.

“It was difficult for everybody. As with any other negotiations, at times it became contentious because everyone was arguing on behalf of their client,” he said.

At the end of the day, the focus was on what a prospective buyer would likely pay for the mall, with the 2021 purchase price at the forefront, Rodgers said. That purchase also included two parcels that were subsequently split off and sold — a strip mall and section of the mall housing an auto center, property records show.

“The assessment was so out of whack compared to the value, there’s nothing else you could really do other than reach an agreement, so everyone worked together on it,” Rodgers said. “When everything is said and done, I feel we did the best we could.”

Rodgers said he believes the assessment would have been lower than the settled amount if the case had gone to trial.

Wilkes-Barre Area School District Solicitor Ray Wendolowski said the district wants all property owners to pay their fair share, which could mean agreeing to reductions when warranted and seeking increases through reverse appeals when the assessments appear to low.

“We strive for fundamental tax fairness,” Wendolowski said.

In this case, the appraisals, the mall’s loss of major anchor tenants and other evidence warranted the reduction, he said.

“The numbers just don’t support the value it had as far as its assessment,” Wendolowski said.

He agreed with Rodgers that the assessment settlement is likely better than the amount that would have been set through a court trial.

A settlement is still pending on a separate appeal that had been filed by the prior mall owner — GSMS 2014-GC18 Wyoming Valley Mall — that will determine what assessed value should be assigned to the property for 2020 and 2021.

The mall had been assessed at $76.1 million during those years and was lowered to $68.7 million in November 2022 after the strip mall and auto center were sold and assigned new parcel identifiers and assessments, records show.

County property records link the current mall owner, Wyoming Valley Realty Holding, to Florida-based 4th Dimension Properties LLC, which owns more than 25 regional malls throughout the country, its website says.

In a post entitled “reimagining the future of shopping centers,” the 4th Dimension site sees malls as “places for more than just shopping.”

“Shopping malls are social spaces where members of a community interact with each other, and where local businesses can prosper alongside national brands, in public high-traffic settings,” it said. “Our goal is to transform shopping centers into community hubs where entertainment, shopping and food all come together.”

Top properties

With a $248 million assessment, Talen Generation LLC’s nuclear power plant in Salem Township remains the highest-valued property in the county, according to county reports.

The Mohegan Pennsylvania casino complex in Plains Township is next in line, with parcels currently totaling $151.7 million, records show. Officials have said this assessment will be rising to $157 million through a court-level settlement.

The massive Niagara Bottling beverage manufacturing plant in Hazle Township follows with an assessment of $70.9 million. Owned by California-based Warrior Trail Properties LLC, the 1.27 million-square-foot production facility sits on 91.51 acres in the Humboldt Industrial Park. That project was coordinated by the Governor’s Action Team, according to prior reports.

Now that the mall is off the roster, the next highest assessment is $58.5 million for the Hanover Township distribution center occupied by True Value Company. Owned by Dallas, Texas-based Granite 12 Tradeport LLC, the property is currently in a real estate tax break program that applies to the structure but not the land.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.

When Dean Sherman got the photos of a new specimen found in one of the famous fossil quarries near Kemmerer, Wyoming, he immediately dropped what he was doing and rushed to the site.

“I knew exactly what it was as soon as I got the picture,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a salamander. That has to be a salamander.’”

Sherman, the owner of In Stone Fossils, has found thousands of incredible fossils from the Green River Formation. But the foot-long salamander he saw in that photo is a new milestone personally, professionally and paleontologically.

“In 20 years-plus of digging experience, I’ve never discovered anything even remotely like it,” he said. “It’s definitely a one-of-a-kind piece.”

Special Soft Salamander

While the Green River Formation is one of the most fossiliferous rock formations in the world, the National Park Service says amphibian fossils are “extremely uncommon.” Dave Dilworth, one of In Stone Fossils’ employees, found the fossil while excavating a new layer in an existing quarry that had already produced several incredible Green River discoveries.

Sherman identified the specimen as a Paleoamphiuma, an omnivorous salamander that lived around 52 million years ago. It’s only the third specimen of the prehistoric amphibian ever found.

“We know for a fact that we have the skull, at least two appendages in the front, and the back two appendages that to be laying over on top of each other on one side of the specimen,” he said. “The only thing missing is a little bit of the tail.”

What’s especially exciting is that there are telltale signs of soft-tissue preservation. Sherman could tell by the “halo” surrounding the specimen.

“The halo around the fossil is a visual sign that there’s skin around the specimen itself,” he said. “That would be the first Paleoamphiuma ever found with soft tissue preservation.”

No Place Like Home

The salamander’s scientific implications are exciting enough, but that’s not everything exciting about the fossil’s future. This important Cowboy State fossil is staying in Wyoming, now and forever.

Sherman explained that the quarry where the salamander was found is on a parcel of land In Stone Fossils is leasing from the state of Wyoming. That means the fossil belongs to, and will ultimately reside in, Wyoming.

“When a rare (fossil) is discovered in a state quarry, it will go into the repository of the state of Wyoming,” he said. “When it’s prepared, it could be displayed at the Wyoming State Museum or somewhere else, but it’s in public retention. The state of Wyoming will have ownership of it.”

Fossils from the Wyoming deposits of the Green River Formation are crown jewels in museums around the globe. A first-of-its-kind mouse bird found by In Stone Fossils in a private quarry in Kemmerer was recently donated to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

The newly discovered salamander may go out of state temporarily for research and display at other institutions, but it will never be gone forever. The Wyoming salamander will always come home.

Hours And Years Ahead

The salamander was fully excavated on the same day it was found. It’s in the possession of In Stone Fossils and will remain there for the foreseeable future.

Even though the rare fossil belongs to the people of Wyoming, they won’t be able to see it for a long time. There are hundreds of hours and many years between the fossil’s discovery and its public debut.

“It’s sitting in limbo right now,” he said. “It will be distributed to the state of Wyoming soon, but I’ve seen things put into a cabinet for a long period of time.”

The state will have to find money to prepare the fossil, a meticulous process where the rock must be removed without damaging the delicate bones. Sherman estimated that hundreds of hours of preparation would be needed to fully reveal the salamander.

“You’re looking at probably 200-plus hours of preparation on the specimen alone, and it (could) easily exceed that,” he said. “I don’t know what funding Wyoming has for a project like this.”

When the funding is available, a bidding process will open for the fossil’s preparation. That could be when the fossil takes a temporary trip out of state to be worked on by a professional preparator.

Sherman has won bids to prepare several fossils for the state of Wyoming, but he’ll probably pass on prepping the salamander. He’s still in the midst of a much larger project, preparing a massive and immaculately preserved crocodile.

“The crocodile is the priority for us,” he said. “With the projects in front of us, I don’t believe I would want to bid on this particular one.”

Sherman isn’t sure how long it’ll be before Wyomingites see their salamander’s full grandeur. Regardless, they’ll need to be patient.

“I’ve seen things put into a cabinet for years before the funding was available to do the preparation and put it on display,” he said. “It’s all funding.”

A Fossiliferous Future

The remarkable fossil salamander is the first fossil found in a previously untouched layer in the Kemmerer quarry. It’s an early indication that the layer has much more to offer than previously believed, and more 52 million-year-old secrets are emerging from the rock.

“We just discovered a bulb-like plant attached to a flower today,” he said. “We work with a paleobotanist at the Field Museum who will be out here in less than a month, and some of this information is very important to his studies. This kind of plant material from the Green River Formation hasn’t been highly studied.”

Better yet, all the fossils in the layer are within the state lease. Whatever Sherman and his team find, it’ll belong to Wyoming.

“The quarry’s been active for a while, but nobody’s dug this layer,” he said. “Many people didn’t know there was this vast amount of material in it, but we’re finding some pretty interesting things already.”

Even so, it’ll be hard to top the discovery of the third-of-its-kind soft-tissue salamander.

“We’re really proud to have it in public retention in Wyoming,” Sherman said. “It’ll be there for future scientists to study.”

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.

Friday at 5 p.m. was the deadline for candidates to register for the August 20 Primary Election in Wyoming.

The following candidates have filed to run for Mayor of Cheyenne and the Cheyenne City Council, according to the Cheyenne City Clerk’s Office:

MAYOR

Patrick Collins
426 Carriage Dr.
Cheyenne, WY  82009
(307) 631-1141
patrick@collins4mayor2024

Buddy Tennant
2800 McCann Ave. B-12
Cheyenne, WY 82001
(307) 635-4971
buddy_tennant@yahoo.com

Rick Coppinger
6512 Moreland Ave.
Cheyenne, WY 82009
(307) 369-6587
rdcoppinger4mayor@charter.net

Vic (no last name listed)
100 E. 28th St.
Cheyenne, WY 82001
aiformayor2024@gmail.com

Justin Nadeau
3037 Forest Dr.
Cheyenne, WY 82001
(307) 256-4067
justin.m.nadeau25@gmail.com

Jenny Hixenbaugh
616 Silver Sage Ave.
Cheyenne, WY 82009
(307) 421-5746
jenny.hixenbaugh@yahoo.com

WARD III

Michelle Aldrich
4505 E. 17th St.
Cheyenne, WY 82001
(307) 760-6213
michelle.aldrich.wyo@gmail.com

Richard Johnson
612 McGovern Ave.
Cheyenne, WY 82001
(307) 220-1973
richardjohnson82001@gmail.com

Mark A. Moody
716 Taggart Dr.
Cheyenne, WY 82007
(307) 287-7247
markforcheyenne3@gmail.com

It’s worth noting that all three candidates in Ward III will advance to the general election since two seats are open and the top two finishers for each seat advance. The top four vote-getters in the primary election will move on in Wards I and II since two seats are open in each of those wards and more than four candidates have filed in each. The top two finishers in the Primary Election for mayor of Cheyenne will likewise advance to the General Election.

Here are the candidates who have filed for Laramie County offices, according to the Laramie County Clerk’s Office:

Assessor

Republican Todd A Ernst 4105 Clark Street Cheyenne, WY 82009 ernst4assessor@gmail.com

County Commissioner

Republican Ty Zwonitzer 5602 Cobia Court Cheyenne, WY 82009 (307) 214-7827 ty@tyzwonitzer.com www.tyzwonitzer.com

Republican Don Hollingshead 9160 Heavenly Dr Cheyenne, WY 82009 (307) 369-6997 hollingsheadforcommissioner@gmail.com www.hollingsheadforcommissioner.com

Republican Kathy Scigliano 5512 Constitution Dr Cheyenne, WY 82001 scigliano4laramiecounty@yahoo.com www.vote4kathy.com

Republican Austin Rodemaker 5150 Newland Ave Cheyenne, WY 82009 (717) 215-4495 austin@austinrodemaker.com www.austinrodemaker.com

Republican Lawrence “Larry” Milbourn 919 Richardson Ct Cheyenne, WY 82001 larry.m4lcc@gmail.com

Republican Josh Tuttle 810 E Allison Rd Cheyenne, WY 82007 (307) 640-2651 joshtuttlecountycommissioner@gmail.com

Republican Jess E. Ketcham 6197 Bison Run Loop Cheyenne, WY 82009 (307) 635-5769 ketchamforcommissioner@yahoo.com www.ketchamforcommissioner.com

Two seats are open on the Laramie County Commission, and no incumbents have filed to run for those seats.