Chicago City Wire

State Rep. Robert F. Martwick, Jr. (D-Chicago) and his father, Robert F. Martwick, Sr. earned an estimated $6.4 million in fees over the past decade helping Chicago skyscraper, apartment building and shopping center owners appeal their property taxes, according to an analysis of appeal records by Chicago City Wire.

The Martwicks' clients saw their property values for tax purposes reduced by an estimated $248 million, and their property tax bills by an estimated $19.4 million.

Cook County property taxpayers who challenge their bills with the the Cook County Assessor and are unhappy with the result can appeal to the Board of Review.

The analysis tracked 1,508 Chicago properties represented by the Martwicks before the Cook County Board of Review between 2007 and 2017. It assumed they collected a fee of one-third of each client's first year savings, or on the low end of the typical "one-third to one half" paid in Cook County, according to the Daily Herald.

The estimated $19.4 million in tax reductions were reallocated to other taxpayers. That's because when a property owner in Cook County receives a tax reduction, it doesn't mean local governments get less money in total. The difference is made up by increasing everyone else's bills.

Last year, a Chicago Tribune analysis blamed business tax appeals by lawyers like the Martwicks for raising residential property taxes to record-high levels.

"The total amount of property taxes levied in a given year is fixed, so if one group of property owners doesn’t pay its fair share, others have to make up the difference," the Tribune wrote. "And for years, the county has significantly undervalued commercial and industrial properties as a class."

A $1.349 million fee

Some of the Marwick's biggest clients seem to fit the Tribune's description.

A 40 story skyscraper at One South Wacker built in 1979 was one of them.

The Marwicks represented its owner, the Teachers Insurance Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund, also known as TIAA-CREF, in its property tax appeals in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

In 2007, the Cook County Assessor valued One South Wacker at $202.4 million and the Cook County Board of Review lowered it to $150.0 million, lowering the building's valuation by 26 percent and its tax bill by an estimated $4.085 million.

Assuming a typical fee of one-third of the first year of savings, TIAA-CREF would have paid the Martwicks $1.349 million in 2007.

The Martwicks appealed for TIAA-CREF again in 2008, but received no further reduction.

They did again in 2009 and got the building's value lowered further, to $106.2 million, according to Cook County Board of Review filings. That saved TIAA-CREF another $2.55 million in taxes and would have generated another $843,442 in fees for the Martwicks.

TIAA-CREF paid $209 million for the building in Feb. 2002 and sold it in Oct. 2012 for $230 million.

The Martwicks also secured a large tax bill reduction for Boston-based Beacon Capital Partners, which owned  550 W. Washington Blvd from 2006 to 2012.

In 2007, the Martwicks got 550 W. Washington's tax bill lowered from $72.7 million to $44.6 million, Board of Review filings show. Beacon's tax bill fell by $2.2 million; the fee paid to the Martwicks, at typical rates, would have been $724,529.

The following year, in 2008, the Cook County Assessor raised 550 W. Washington's tax bill back up to $72.3 million, records show. But the Martwicks got it reduced again, to $53.7 million, resulting in a $1.5 million tax savings and a $494,870 fee, presuming they were charging one-third of the savings.

The Martwicks appealed a third time for 550 W. Washington in 2009, after the assessor raised its valuation to  $64.7 million. They got it lowered to $49.8 million, a savings of $1.17 million in property taxes and a $385,681 approximate fee for the Martwicks.

In 2012, Beacon sold the building to MetLife for more than twice as much, or $112 million.

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Property tax appeals pay

State Rep. Rob Martwick (D-Chicago) and his father run one of the city's largest property tax appeals businesses. How much have they saved their clients, and made for themselves?

YEAR	# Appeals	Market Value Reduction	Tax Bill Reduction	Martwick Fees
2007	128	$89,992,107	$7,019,384	$2,316,397
2008	191	$43,398,535	$3,385,086	$1,117,078
2009	450	$94,556,664	$7,375,419	$2,433,889
2010	179	$5,644,398	$440,263	$145,287
2011	137	$2,694,076	$210,138	$69,346
2012	91	$5,335,709	$416,185	$137,341
2013	36	$665,316	$51,895	$17,125
2014	31	$1,262,793	$98,498	$32,504
2015	105	$3,152,050	$245,860	$81,134
2016	85	$1,055,062	$82,295	$27,157
2017	75	$486,177	$37,922	$12,514
TOTALS	1,508	$248,242,887	$19,362,945	$6,389,772

Source: Cook County Board of Review; assumes rate of 0.78 for Chicago properties.