MilleniuM Real Estate Advisors was
selected by the law firm of Solver & Loftus to appraise the market value of the fee simple interest in a 1,250 mile long and a 1,600 mile long hypothetical right-of-way.
The purpose of the report was to develop an unbiased, third-party estimate of land value for the right-of-way developed for use in constructing a hypothetical stand-alone railroad. The assignments center on two rate cases brought before the Surface Transportation Board between Wisconsin Power and Light Company and the Union Pacific Railroad Company; and, between the Texas Municipal Power Authority and the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad Company.
The cases are related to the reasonableness of the rate and service terms established by the railroad companies for transporting coal from the Powder River Basin area in Wyoming to generating stations as far east as Sheboygan, Wisconsin and as far south as Iola, Texas.
Our task was to provide unit-land values for various segments of the hypothetical rail corridor as part of a stand alone cost presentation. To make a stand-alone cost presentation, a shipper designs a hypothetical new carrier that is specifically tailored to serve an optimum traffic group within an optimum physical plan needed for that traffic. A component of that cost structure is the value of the land associated with the right-of-way.
