Grubb & Ellis enters tax-appraisal fight

For underwater commercial property owners, Grubb & Ellis|Commercial Florida's new business service could mean more money stays in the company.

Earlier this year, the real estate brokerage and property management company created the Tax Assessment Advisory Services division mainly to help its existing receivership and other distressed clients contest municipal property-value appraisals to save on property taxes. Now the division is soliciting new business from outside its existing clients, and Don Lombardi director of the division in the firm's Tampa office, is preparing for rocketing demand.

The reduction of a firm's tax burden is offered on a contingency basis, except for a $250 retainer, which is credit against a percentage of tax recovery, says Jeff Sweeney, president of Grubb & Ellis|Commercial Florida.