No Beinn Bhreagh decision — yet
Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board holds public hearing for former Alexander Graham Bell estate
A public hearing to hear testimony on the property value of the former Alexander Graham Bell estate ended with no decision on Tuesday.
The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board held the hearing at the Royal Canadian Legion in Baddeck and heard information regarding the property, widely known as Beinn Bhreagh, at 998 Beinn Bhreagh Road near the Bras d’Or Lakes.
The board heard testimony from William Hockey, (architectural conservator) John Ingram (Ingram Varner and Associates), Sara Grosvenor (a trustee of the Bell estate), Daniel McNeil (senior specialist, valuation and appeals at Property Valuation Services Corporation), and Shelia Orr (Property Valuation Services Corporation)
The hearing was held after the owners of Beinn Bhreagh Hall Corp. appealed a 2016 tax assessment to the Nova Scotia Assessment Appeal Tribunal, noting the property had been unoccupied since 2006, following the death of Mabel Grosvenor, the granddaughter of Bell, who had been living in the famed inventor’s home.
The owners of the mansion disagreed with the property valuation of $885,200, which had been assessed by McNeil. The family believed, because of the age and condition of the building, that the assessment should be lower.
With that in mind, the owners had an independent appraisal completed at the property, which valued the home at $475,000 as of Jan. 1, 2016. The appraisal was conducted by Ingram.
Ingram, who had also done appraisals at Beinn Bhreagh in 2002 and 2007, told the board his first appraisal in 2002 saw the property valued at $505,000. Meanwhile, in 2007, his valuation
increased to $605,000, before the 2016 appraisal.
“I looked at two approaches to value, by comparison approach and cost approach — this is obviously a unique property and direct comparison is a challenge, to say the least,” said Ingram. “There’s not much in terms of properties that are comparable to it.
“Adjustments were applied to what I found to be the most relevant comparables at the time and I concluded a value on that base and I also did a cost approach value, which was looking at the value of the land … those steps led to the indication of the value as well.”
The appraisal also noted the property would need $500,000 a year, at the time, for a couple of years for basic maintenance to the building.
Hockey first became involved with the property in June 2014. As part of his job, he was asked to project-manage the rehabilitation of the estate by the owners.
“The foundation had failed, and the corner of the building wasn’t supported (in 2014),” said Hockey. “It was emergency work (to be completed) and was implemented that summer … the contractor agreed to be involved as well as I was.”
“We’re currently working … it’s basically a total rehabilitation of the exterior of the building because it had been neglected for a very long time.”
Hockey told the board that the work project is ongoing and has “probably three years left to go.” He said the work has been necessary for a long time.
“Because it’s deferred maintenance it costs more (today)
than it would have if it had been done in a timely manner,” said Hockey. “(The work) is basically to put it (the building) in maintainable condition so that it can have regular maintenance.”
Hockey confirmed there has been great deal of work done to the foundation of the building and it will eventually need new roofing. The approximate cost of the total project’s completion will
be about $1.5 million, according to Hockey.
Later in the hearing, the board heard from Sara Grosvenor, one of seven trustees trusted with the conservations and management of Beinn Bhreagh Hall.
Grosvenor told the board the owners have been experimenting with tours for the general public.
“The house is such an important icon, not only for Baddeck
and our family, but also Canada and the United States and it really needs to be shared,” said Grosvenor. “I think we have to figure out how to do it.”
In 2016, the family launched its pilot tour project and lost $10,000 for various reasons.
“It’s not to be a profit-making enterprise in any way, it’s simply to cover costs and that’s our intent,” said Grosvenor.
Beinn Bhreagh was officially declared a Nova Scotia heritage property in 2015, almost 130 years after Bell first laid eyes on the mountainside estate.
Although unable to speak for other trustees, Grosvenor said she doesn’t see the building being used as a permanent home for anyone. One of the final testimonies heard by the board came from McNeil, who explained how he assessed the property.
“The first thing was finding both vacant and proof properties on the Bras d’Or Lake itself … the second I tried to find large parcels of land located on the Bras d’Or Lake, and third criteria for me was finding large improvements,” said MacNeil.
“It was very hard satisfying those three criteria.”
The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board could not confirm when a final decision would be made on the appeal, but he noted more steps would be taking place in the coming weeks.