State Eyeing Hefty Price for Office Space

West Virginia state government is poised to buy a Charleston office building for more than eight times its appraised value, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.

Kanawha County has valued that Greenbrooke Building at $1.6 million, "based on an income and expense statement supplied earlier this year by Al Summers, the building's owner," the article said. "H. Kim Painter, senior appraiser in the state Department of Administration's Real Estate Division, has appraised the Greenbrooke property at $14.5 million."

The proposed sales price is $13.9 million. Summers has said a private appraised valued the Greenbrooke at $17 million, but county officials say "Laidley Tower (among the tallest buldings in West Virginia) sold for $18.5 million in 2002 and Laidley is 'Class A' office space, while he and Duffield consider the Greenbrooke Building to be 'Class C' space," the newspaper reported.

Update: The Charleston Gazette reported on the proposed purchase earlier, noting that the state's "Economic Development Authority authorized a bond sale worth up to $18 million on May 15" to fund the deal.