We all know that commercial real estate is key for the economies of cities across the country and Midwest. After all, these buildings sometimes shell out huge dollars in property taxes each year.
How huge? You might be surprised. The Commercial Cafe website recently ran a list of the commercial buildings that paid the highest amount of property taxes each year. To little surprise, the top payer was in New York City, the General Motors Building, which paid out more than $71 million in property taxes last year.
But you might be surprised to discover how many commercial buildings in the Midwest pay out a huge amount of property taxes each year, too. In fact, the 13th biggest payer of property taxes in 2016, and the first commercial property not in New York, is located in the relatively small community of Byron, Illinois. That's the Exelon-Byron Nuclear Generation Station, which paid out more than $36 million in property taxes last year.
The Willis Tower in Chicago — formerly known, and forever known to some people, as the Sears Tower — paid more than $28 million in property taxes in 2016. That ranks it as number 28 on Commercial Cafe's list. It's also the first office building on the list that isn't located in Manhattan.
When it comes to retail, the Minneapolis-St. Paul market boasts the property that pays the most property taxes each year. That is the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. This sprawling shopping center paid more than $30 million in property taxes last year, far ahead of any other retail property on Commercial Cafe's list.
Looking for the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago? That one didn't make Commercial Cafe's list of the top-100 property tax payers.
