After Property Tax Assessment Correction, "The Press" to Receive Tax Abatement?
- Christian Willauer
- 18 minutes ago
- 2 min read
The Press should pay more than $4,374 in school taxes. It's assessed at $61 million.
🤔The News Journal reports that the building qualifies for a tax abatement.
➡ But tax abatements only apply to the value of construction, not the value of the land.
😮Somehow the land value of 801 N. Orange evaporated at the same time that the building went up, which is why BPG is paying a lot less in taxes for their 243 unit luxury apartment building than they did when the parcel was a parking lot.
Here's the history of land value for 801 N. Orange:
In 1989, Wilmington Parking Authority purchased the .94 acre parcel from Gannett for $3.3 million
By 2006, New Castle County gave the land portion of the parcel, then a parking lot, an assessment value of almost $5.9 million
In 2023, BPG purchased the parcel.
Also in 2023, New Castle County reduced the parcel's land assessment to $1.5 million.
In 2024, Tyler Technologies reassessed the property, reducing its land assessment to $288,000 and adding an assessment of $56,100 for the pavement, for a total assessment of $344,100.
In June, 2025, BPG completed construction of the Press, a luxury apartment building developed at a cost BPG reported of $90 million.
😢In November, 2025, New Castle County billed 801 N. Orange just $4,374 in school taxes. This article from the News Journal reports BPG might pay a similar amount this year.
Something's not right here!
I have so many questions:
❓What was the purchase price that BPG paid for 801 N. Orange when they bought the lot from the Wilmington Parking Authority?
❓In one decade, why did New Castle County's assessment of the land drop from almost $6 million when the Wilmington Parking Authority owned it to $1.5 million when BPG purchased it to $288,000 when Tyler Technology assessed it?
❓Why is the land of residents and small business owners in Wilmington's neighborhoods assessed at values that are the equivalent of $1+ million an acre when downtown properties like 801 N. Orange are being assessed for as low as $288,000 for almost an acre?
Taxes pay for vital public services like public education, fire, police, and sanitation. We all benefit from these public services, and we need owners of valuable properties to pay into these services just like everyone else.
➡ BPG should volunteer to not accept a tax abatement for this property even if they qualify for one.
➡ We need to make sure that New Castle Count's land value assessments equal fair market value as required by state law.
➡ And we need to look into tax abatements in the City of Wilmington and for school districts and fix what's broken!
