Seacrets would be the "owner" of the property for the duration of the lease.

Even though (based on the last lease states, ".. the Lessee may use the parking area hereby leased?" This description of "what" area we are leasing seems pretty specific.

I disagree with the statement that OPA would be far better off with a $75,000 non net lease. The outcome would be the same either way.

As someone who was apparently involved in the lease review, I'm somewhat surprised to hear you say the outcome would be the same either way.

The property is assessed for taxes at $3 million. Last August, prior to the total collapse of the real estate market toward the end of the year, OPA had a qualified appraiser put the value at $2 million. It might be reasonable to assume it is worth less than $2 million after the collapse.

The total BENEFIT, not income, to OPA is $75,000 -- $40,000 for the parking rights and $35,000 in tax payment made by Seacrets to the state/county. With me so far?

OK. If the lease provided for Seacrets to pay $75,000 directly to OPA and removed Seacrets obligation to pay the taxes then OPA would be benefitting by the exact same amount and Seacrets would be paying out the exact same amount.

However, if OPA received the $75,000, and asap went to the county/state and appealed the assessmet of $3 million, it would have a reasonable expectation of seeing the assessed value reduced, hopefully to $2 million or less. The reduced taxes as a result would be 1/3rd less than $35,000, or around $25,000. OPA would thus have the $75,000 from Seacrets, less a tax payment of $25,000...... making OPA $10,000 richer ... rather than allowing the current assessment to go unchallenged and essentially donating another $10,000 to the state/county every year.

Is there a chance OPA might not get the assessment reduction? Sure, but given the August 2010 appraised value of $2 million, combined with the subsequent collapse of the real estate market, OPA has the odds in its favor.

Moreover, does anyone remotely believe the real estate market and property values are going to somehow magicly go up substantially over the next five years? The best all of us who own property can hope for is a return to values of 3 years or so ago. While I'm hopeful for that scenario, I can't say I have a reasonable expectation of the scenario.