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Figuring out if Somewhere is Owned or Leased by the Governme

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 11:00 am
by OleWarSkuleAlum
How do you guys generally do this? I'm not sure if there is an easier way than scouring their website and researching the people running it? I was looking for information on the following place but it's not 100% obvious...

http://elpasoexploreum.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


I'm thinking in some way shape or form the city has their hand in this.

Re: Figuring out if Somewhere is Owned or Leased by the Gove

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:37 pm
by JCole
I usually search the county tax appraisal district's website for the address. It will list the property owner.

Re: Figuring out if Somewhere is Owned or Leased by the Gove

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:48 pm
by Keith B
One thing to watch for on tax records is another entity that has Business Personal Property listed at the address. This can be where a private business leases or rents from the government, like a concessionaire at the fair grounds, etc. The BPP listed will usually be WAY lower than what the property value would be.

Re: Figuring out if Somewhere is Owned or Leased by the Gove

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 4:21 pm
by OleWarSkuleAlum
I did that however for the example I posted above it doesn't even show that address exists. Also I search for the El Paso zoo which I know is owned by the city and it only shows the concessionaire not the city owning it.

Re: Figuring out if Somewhere is Owned or Leased by the Gove

Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 9:55 pm
by srothstein
One of the tricks to looking up addresses is to remember that the mailing address used is not necessarily the legal address of the property for appraisal purposes. I used a Google satellite view to find the cross streets and searched for them in the CAD web site. There is a 12,000 sq ft building owned by the city of El Paso on Leon Street at that intersection. There is also a second smaller building next to it listed, also owned by the city. Based on the satellite picutre and the addresses on Leon, I think the building is city owned.

But, and this is important, there are also buildings and land owned that list Lynx Industries as the owner. Lynx Exhibits appears to be the sponsor of the Exploreum. That appears to be a private corporation and some of the land/buildings may be private and legal to post. I recommend obeying any signs until it can be verified which buildings are city owned and which are private (or the ownership of Lynx Industries can be verified as the city).

Re: Figuring out if Somewhere is Owned or Leased by the Gove

Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 10:36 am
by JP171
El Paso CAD lists it as Personal property not real, carry as you choose and they can sit on eggs