GUILDERLAND — Following the settlement of several high-profile suits in recent years, Guilderland has seen a reduction in new tax certiorari petitions as the number filed this month is about half what it was during the same period in the previous two years.

While an assisted-living facility and an office complex are seeking tax reductions, the largest request comes from the owner of The Apex at Crossgates apartment complex, which is asking an Albany County court to slash its assessed value by 88.5 percent, from about $28.5 million to $3.25 million. 

UG Family claims “the equalization rate for the Town should be 65%” instead of its actual 85 percent, which, it asserts, contributed to Apex’s unequal assessment “because the assessed value is at a higher percentage of value than the assessed values of other real property on the assessment roll.”

Apex’s assessed value is a significant increase from last year, a sign that occupancy has increased dramatically over the past 12 months. UG Family’s July 2024 tax suit sought to lower the 19.5-acre parcel’s assessment from $10.7 million to $3.6 million. That suit is ongoing. 

UG Family claims The Apex at Crossgates’ $28.5 million assessed value is excessive because it exceeds the full-market value of the property, which the company claims is $5 million; the property, according to the town, has a market value of $37.95 million.

The Troy-based company purchased the site from Pyramid Management Group, which at the time was unloading assets amid a financial maelstrom, in June 2022, for $5.43 million.

UG Family secured a $58 million loan to build the complex’s 192 apartments and 30 townhomes, where rent for an  860-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit starts at $2,158 per month.

Apex Crossgates’ two-bedroom, two-bathroom units start at $2,750 per month and top out at $3,198 per month; a three-bedroom unit runs $3,536 per month, while monthly rent for a 2,200-square-foot two-bedroom, two-bathroom townhome  costs $4,342 monthly .

Peregrine Senior Living 

In 2021, Atria Guilderland was sold for $14.8 million to Guilderland Owner LLC and Springtime JV LLC and its name was changed to Peregrine Senior Living Guilderland. 

Now, the owner of the 120-bed assisted-living facility at 300 Mill Rose Court has argued in its tax filing that its $9.4 million assessment is excessive — in  comparison to its own opinion of the value: $938,000.

Guilderland Owner LLC and Springtime JV LLC claim the assessment for Peregrine is disproportionately higher than comparable properties, and that methodologies used to assess the site are illegal, arbitrary, and capricious, violating the Constitution’s Equal Protection clause.

 1450 Western Avenue

The Picotte Companies, owner of a five-story glass-and-steel structure at 1450 Western Ave., is requesting its assessment be lowered from $10.2 million to $4.875 million. Picotte claims in its filing that the “proof of value [the town] presented was inadequate because the supporting data was insufficient.”