This one hits close to home. The city/county ****ed the owner with the tax assessments since he took ownership. It's a shame to see such a nice facility close its doors. Hopefully someone can buy it and keep it operational!
Another Track Bites the Dust- Heartland Park Raceway
- Thread starter 13COBRA
- Start date
Damn that was the first place I did some track days in my Miata 20 or so years ago. Was a nice place back then.
It's probably nicer now than it was then.
It’s worth it to save the planet.
What the heck is going on in KS?
He paid 2.5 million in a fire sale.
He put a few million into it repaving the track. couple years ago they have assessed it near 10 million. Sounds like they were willing to settle for 7 million valuation. That only applies for one year though, and would jump right back up the next year.
I have not seen what they are trying to value it at now. I am guessing it will be 13-15 million range.
We have the same problem with our properties we own at work. We contest every year for Kansas. Sometimes they stack up for 3+ years before we get through them. Another year or so and we likely will have to hire a full time individual to contest the buildings every year.
He put a few million into it repaving the track. couple years ago they have assessed it near 10 million. Sounds like they were willing to settle for 7 million valuation. That only applies for one year though, and would jump right back up the next year.
I have not seen what they are trying to value it at now. I am guessing it will be 13-15 million range.
We have the same problem with our properties we own at work. We contest every year for Kansas. Sometimes they stack up for 3+ years before we get through them. Another year or so and we likely will have to hire a full time individual to contest the buildings every year.
Jeez, government gone amok on this one.
They can't even say it's due to neighbor complaints about noise as it's right near a decently busy airport.
They can't even say it's due to neighbor complaints about noise as it's right near a decently busy airport.
Just because *he* won't own it anymore doesn't stop somebody else from stepping in and keeping it going. The dude is doing a great job of playing victim but he didn't pay a dime of taxes on the place the whole time he owned it and he didn't challenge the valuations he disagreed with in any proper way. FAFO.
It's a shame, I've been racing and corner working up there since the 90s, (and always loved looking at the Constellation parked over at Forbes field.) Unless someone can buy a few politicians when they buy HPT they might as well start on the rezoning paperwork.
It originally was going to be down here by Wichita, as Lake Afton used to be the Road course here in KS, but as the trees got bigger, cars got faster and needed a more modern facility and insurance was simply no longer available. As a result they had to stop racing at Afton. When Heartland park was announced it seemed like the answer we needed, but the local circle dirt track owner saw it as a threat somehow and was friends with a country member... needless to say in was punted from Sedgwick Co, and built south of Topeka's Forbes field.
I try fighting my taxes every year as it seems to go up 15-20% each year, with no upgrades and the retail value remaining fairly stable. The state passed a law to try and make it harder for counties to increase the values, but as for Sedgwick they basically pulled values from <400 properties in the entire county to somehow value the rest, in a county with the largest city in the state.
The house to my north that is rather similar to mine but has 3 bedrooms upstairs instead of 2 larger ones. It's been on the market half a year and has had over 20k+ in cuts, and now about 35k less than my house's appraisal this year, with no apparent bites. My mortgage has gone up roughly $125-150 in the past 5 years mainly due to taxes, as the escrow comes in as a shortage and they up it $20-30 a month to try and catch up.
Our electricity is some of the most expensive in the nation as well.
This is basically the result of RINOS and Dems running the state getting along on all the day to day issues. The only time you can tell them apart is primary season when they try to appease their bases.
If you come in as a company and promise jobs they will give you all the taxpayer incentives you want, even cheaper electricity (and charge consumers more to cover it). They don't even care if the people they hire are Kansans or brought in from out of state. The battery factories going in near KC are a good example.
Kansas is what happens when government "works" unrestricted, and no gridlock. It's terrible for the citizens.
It originally was going to be down here by Wichita, as Lake Afton used to be the Road course here in KS, but as the trees got bigger, cars got faster and needed a more modern facility and insurance was simply no longer available. As a result they had to stop racing at Afton. When Heartland park was announced it seemed like the answer we needed, but the local circle dirt track owner saw it as a threat somehow and was friends with a country member... needless to say in was punted from Sedgwick Co, and built south of Topeka's Forbes field.
I try fighting my taxes every year as it seems to go up 15-20% each year, with no upgrades and the retail value remaining fairly stable. The state passed a law to try and make it harder for counties to increase the values, but as for Sedgwick they basically pulled values from <400 properties in the entire county to somehow value the rest, in a county with the largest city in the state.
The house to my north that is rather similar to mine but has 3 bedrooms upstairs instead of 2 larger ones. It's been on the market half a year and has had over 20k+ in cuts, and now about 35k less than my house's appraisal this year, with no apparent bites. My mortgage has gone up roughly $125-150 in the past 5 years mainly due to taxes, as the escrow comes in as a shortage and they up it $20-30 a month to try and catch up.
Our electricity is some of the most expensive in the nation as well.
This is basically the result of RINOS and Dems running the state getting along on all the day to day issues. The only time you can tell them apart is primary season when they try to appease their bases.
If you come in as a company and promise jobs they will give you all the taxpayer incentives you want, even cheaper electricity (and charge consumers more to cover it). They don't even care if the people they hire are Kansans or brought in from out of state. The battery factories going in near KC are a good example.
Kansas is what happens when government "works" unrestricted, and no gridlock. It's terrible for the citizens.
With NHRA not going there, assuming that'll continue down the path, there is no profitable way forward for Heartland Park.
He definitely could've handled the tax evaluations better 6ish years ago.
Local public sector unions are damn powerful. They usually get whatever they want, in terms of increased numbers of employees, salary increases, more time off, benefits up the ying-yang, etc, etc. All of that costs MONEY, and lots of it... and virtually all of it comes from property taxes.
Just go racing in the streets and neighborhoods, I guess.
Should do some type of street takeover. I don't see any downside.
That's realistically had no affect on race tracks yet (talking real tracks, not drag strips)
I remember some really nice events being held there in the past.
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