Financial-technology company Ideanomics has withdrawn a lawsuit against the town of West Hartford that challenged the assessed value of its recently acquired former UConn campus, where it plans to build a $400 million mixed-use development, court records show.
Ideanomics, through its subsidiary, Fintech LLC, filed a tax assessment appeal in New Britain Superior Court in May opposing the assessed value of the Asylum Avenue property, which it bought last October for $5.2 million.
Hartford Business Journal was first to report the appeal on Monday, days before it was officially withdrawn on Thursday, according to a Superior Court filing.
The lawsuit appealed what Ideanomics said was the town’s roughly $24 million assessment — which would have carried a tax bill of almost $1 million — of the campus properties located at 1700 and 1800 Asylum Ave., which comprise 58 acres and five separate buildings. UConn had also challenged the assessment in Feb. 2018.
However, town officials said they had tentatively reduced the property values prior to Ideanomics’ purchase, since it was shifting from a “university use” to a “general office use.”
The assessed value of 1800 Asylum Ave. was reduced to $8.7 million and 1700 Asylum Ave. remained the same at $2.2 million, totaling just over $11 million, town records show.
Based on West Hartford’s 2019-2020 mill rate of 41.8, Ideanomics will owe about $461,000 in property taxes in the current fiscal year.
The revision was tentatively approved on Oct. 1, 2018, but didn’t get finalized until months later, which is why Ideanomics initially filed an appeal with the town’s board of assessment appeals before a Feb. 20 deadline. The action helped preserve the company’s right to oppose the property’s assessed value, and was not meant to be “adversarial,” Ideanomics said earlier this week.
The assessment board had denied the appeal earlier this year while the change of use was still being processed. Ideanomics then filed a property assessment appeal in Superior Court on May 29.
It wasn’t until the town approved the change of use and Ideanomics received its revised tax bill that the company noticed the new assessment, a source familiar with the project said Friday.
Town Manager Matthew Hart in a statement Thursday said he’s “pleased” Ideanomics withdrew its appeal.
“From my perspective, it helps demonstrate that the principals are reasonable and value their relationship with the town,” Hart continued. “The former UConn campus is a very important parcel in town, and the Fintech project could have significant benefits for the town, the region, and the state.”
The withdrawn appeal quells the assessment issue as the company looks to submit site plans to the town, which would also need to approve a rezoning of the property before construction begins. An environmental cleanup of the site has begun and will take three months to complete.
Ideanomics recently unveiled renderings for the sprawling West Hartford development, which is expected to include space for tech companies, a community center, civic plaza, wetlands park walkway and art gallery, among other features.
The project’s previous price tag of $283 million was also increased to $400 million “plus” because Ideanomics now plans to raze four of five buildings on-site.
Last July, the state of Connecticut pledged $10 million for the development in exchange for 330 jobs Ideanomics promised to create.
