LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The Staples Center got a big surprise on tax day this year, when they were handed a bill for $3 million in back property taxes.
The Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office announced that a mistake in their records left the AEG-owned L.A. Arena Land Co. with a large debt for 26 acres of land that had not been correctly assigned to the Staples Center. The property had been transferred from the Community Redevelopment Agency to L.A. Arena Land in 1999, as part of the city’s incentive to get the Staples Center build. The land was earmarked for a $1 billion hotel and sports-entertainment complex. The company was never sent a tax bill.
“We messed up,” Chief Deputy Assessor Gary Townsend told the Los Angeles Daily News.
The property had been incorrectly assessed at $36 million before the error was discovered. A new assessment of $41.1 million for the properties and improvements will be billed without any interest or penalties.
L.A. Arena Land also waived the statute of limitations, which allows the assessor to go back just four years, and agreed to pay the full amount, Townsend told the paper. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
