Commercial Real Estate Assessments
Apartments
Multi-family residential rental property containing 4 or more living units that are assessed as a single entity. The category encompasses street level stores and offices in apartment buildings.
Apartment Types
- Garden – 1-3 story multifamily rental properties.
- Mid-rise – 4- 8 story multi-family dwellings
- High-rise – 9+ stories multi-family dwellings
General Commercial
Generally, any nonindustrial, nonresidential realty of a commercial enterprise. The Department of Real Estate Assessments classifies retail, regional malls, storage facilities, warehouses, senior living facilities, gas stations, commercial parking garages, parking lots, banks, theaters, and commercial condo units as general commercial.
Hotels
A facility that serves the needs of travelers, offers lodging accommodations, parking and may provide a wide range of other services and amenities, e.g., telephone, food & beverages, restaurants, convention facilities, meeting rooms, banquet rooms, recreational facilities, swimming pools, commercial shops. Air BNB and VRBO properties are not included in this property type.
Hotel Types
- Full Service
- Limited Service
- Selective Service
- Residence Suites
- Lodging
Office
Commercial office buildings that are used exclusively for business-related purposes or to provide a workspace. Most often leased to tenants to conduct income-generating activities. A structure providing environments that are conducive to the performance of management and administrative activities, accounting, marketing, information processing, consulting, human resources management, financial and insurance services, educational and medical services, and other professional services. At least 75 percent of the interior space is finished to accommodate office users, but the rest of the space can include other uses such as retail, restaurant or fitness.
Mixed-Use Buildings
Commercial properties that have multiple uses (an apartment building that has ground floor retail like Zoso Flats or an office building that has office use and apartment use like 4040 Wilson) are valued by isolating each component (apartment, office, retail, or hotel). DREA uses a combination of county guidelines and income and expense information submitted by the property owner and then combines the value of the separate components.
Commercial GuideBook
Commercial BID (Business Improvement Districts)
- Ballston BID (BID rate – $.045)
- National Landing (BID rate – $.043)
- Rosslyn BID (BID rate – $.078)
Tax Rates
Tax rates in Arlington are expressed in dollars, per one hundred dollars of assessed value. For example, a tax rate of $1.026 per $100.00 would result in a real estate tax of $410,400 on a multifamily property assessed at $40,000,000.
Commercial properties such as office buildings, hotels, general commercial properties have an additional tax rate of $.125 and if located in one of Arlington’s three Business Improvement Districts and additional BID commercial rate (see above).
The below chart shows two different ways to calculate taxes based on the tax rate and the property assessment.
| Commercial Type |
Tax Rate |
X Assessment |
= Tax |
| Apartment |
$1.030/100 |
$40,000,000 |
$412,000 |
| Apartment |
$1.030 |
$40,000,000/100 |
$412,000 |
| Office/ Retail/ Hotel |
$1.030+$.125=$1.155/100 |
$40,000,000 |
$462,000 |
| Office/ Retail/ Hotel |
$1.030 + $.125 = $1.155 |
$40,000,000/100 |
$462,000 |
Commercial FAQs